The School of Despair or Hope
by QueenofMatoki
Summary: Hope's Peak Academy is a distinguished school for the best of the best. The students there are the very embodiment of hope; they are the shining stars for the future. However, they might just be like the rest as they slowly fall out into despair. Despair and hope are at a constant struggle, and only one can make it through. (SYOC CLOSED)
1. Introduction

Hope's Peak Academy. The name itself sounds prestigious and regal. Hope's Peak Academy is exactly what it sounds like; the best of the best are specially chosen to be students at this distinguished school. The students here reach the peak of hope, like the name suggests. They are leaders around the world, and success is guaranteed to any student who joins the school. There are only two requirements to get into the school.

One. You must be a high school student.

That doesn't seem too bad right? Half of the requirements knocked out by just being a certain age.

Two. You must be the very best in your field.

This is the extremely tricky part. It's hard to be the best of the best. But Hope's Peak Academy only accepts the best of the best, there is no way around it. There is almost always someone out there who is better than you. You can be the best in your entire school or district, but there is a chance that you're still not the best. However, the requirement to be the best is still intact, and there are no exceptions.

Everyone dreams of going to Hope's Peak Academy because it's such a lovely place. Not enough of those dreamers is lucky enough to step foot inside the academy. No matter how hard a person may try, there is a special thing called talent that some people are luckily born with. Others don't have this luxury. However, I believe if you truly to work hard and to the best of your ability, you can be the best. It's not easy though.

Hope's Peak Academy inspires and sparks a piece of hope within the hearts of almost anyone. You might not have gotten into the well respected academy, but you can't help but feel pride and joy in the young students that attend the school. The future generation is what's important, and Hope's Peak Academy helps young and talented individuals find their inner hope.

**SYOC FORM:**

**Name:**

I would assume that your character is Japanese because Hope's Peak is in Japan after all- Though I do not mind foreigners, just give me an explanation why. Include a nickname here as well, if your character has one.

**Age:**

**SHSL: **No duplicates unless it's maybe the SHSL Lucky Student or ? For the Lucky Student, you'll probably only get in if you give me a good plot with your character. For the ? you must actually have a SHSL talent in mind and tell me what it is. Why are they keeping it a secret? Is it because it's something incriminating? Or did they simply forget?

**Gender: **

**Ethnicity: **Probably at least part Japanese, but I will not be surprised if they are mixed as well

**Appearance: **Be sure include details for eyes, hair, body type, skin, height, weight, and etc. Add clothing as well. It doesn't have to match with their SHSL talent, but if it could, that'd be nice too.

**Personality: **Be sure that this is very detailed. The better you write this, the better I can interpret your character.

**Habits/Quirks: **This can be very very important to the plot as it can help in the class trials. Please be unique.

**Strengths: **

**Weaknesses:** Please add an adequate amount of strengths and weaknesses.

**First Impression: **What aura does your character give off? Are they high class and royal? Or are they shy and meek? This doesn't have to be the overall personality of the character. An example would be Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu and how he changed over the course of time.

**Triggers: **What makes them tick?

**Likes:**

**Dislikes:**

**Positive Traits:**

Negative Traits:

**Background: **This doesn't HAVE to be tragic in any way. It'd be appreciated if it was interesting though.

**Hobbies:**

**Special Items:**

**Class Trial Role:**

**Pet Peeves:**

**Relationships: **What type of people do they like and dislikes? This is optional.

**Survivor, Victim, or Culprit?: **This is in no way guaranteed. I'm sorry in advanced, but if I need to kill off a character... I'm sorry.

**Sexuality: **I am not a judging person. In fact, I do not want all straight people, that's kind of boring. A balance is nice.

**Mastermind: **I need one mastermind who can successfully have a good story and pull it off well. Obviously, this is optional, but I do need a mastermind and a good story behind them.

**Chance of dying: **I need people who are willing to let their character die. What are the chances that your character will die in a percentage?

**Ideas:** _This is very important._ SYOC's with a complicated plot like Danganronpa are hard to make, and I can't think of all the murder plots by myself. If you could provide ANY ideas, that would be such a huge help for a beginner like me. Thank you so much.

**Other: **Is there anything I missed?

**IMPORTANT NOTES:**

I would appreciate it if someone were to co-author- I'm a pretty busy person because school takes a lot of my time. I might have signed up for a lot of things-

No OC's that are related to characters from the other DR games.

Recycled characters are allowed if you haven't used them that much and you've tweaked them at least a bit. Try at least changing the name.

Unique and original characters would be highly appreciated. Diversity makes things more interesting ^^

Please PM me your characters.

Unless you're helping me with the plot, please don't send more than two characters to me.

This is an SYOC and the outcome completely depends on the people who are willing to help me. I have spent time thinking of murder plots before I decided to publish this, but I can't think of them all and they might not fit with the characters I get. Please be forgiving to me, I'm very sorry for anything that may not appease you. Thank you.

I understand if you're a busy person. I am one myself, so I will not close the SYOC as soon as I get 16. This is NOT first come first serve. If you need time, don't rush. Just shoot me a PM and I will understand. However, I am not willing to wait TOO long for you.

Well after that note, thanks so much for taking interest in my story. I hope you really enjoy it and please, send in an OC. Thank you for you time!

**NOTE: I still need more characters. I'm not even close to comfortable with closing the OC submission. I haven't even gotten 16 OC's submitted. Thank you!**


	2. Prologue 1

Hana Inoue,

As the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, I'd like to congratulate you for being accepted into our elite school. As most people know, we are the most elite school of Japan. I hope you can contribute to our school. You'll be with fifteen other extremely talented students and be trained to be the future leaders of Japan. You've been selected as the Ultimate Choreographer. We look forward to seeing you when the semester starts!

Sincerely,

The Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy

* * *

I slowly blinked as I awoke in a place I was not accustomed to. Three people were standing around my laying figure, and one of them was tickling me awake with the furry boa that hung around her neck. I sneezed loudly and quickly got to my feet.

"Wow, yet another girl. I'm just the player aren't I?" A boy with a cocky grin on his face laughed, "Oh well, look at me. Who wouldn't want this?"

"Shut up, Tio. Nobody likes someone who is cocky. You must make a good first impression on this young lady." A girl with fierce dark blue turned sharply towards me, "Straighten your back, young lady. You look very improper slouching like that. Why let your nice height go to waste by slouching like some ape? Anyways, I take it that you are also a student at Hope's Peak Academy?"

"Oh sorry, I-" I quickly straighten my back and cough awkwardly, "Yes, I am a student at Hope's Peak."

"Petra Adamanteen. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The girl with dark blue eyes sternly reached out her hand.

* * *

Ultimate Maid

Petra Adamanteen

* * *

"Er, hello. My name is Hana Inoue, and it's a pleasure to meet you." I sheepishly smile and turn to the others.

The girl with the boa speaks up, "Hi, hi! I'm Mazuri Okayama. Want to see a magic trick?"

I politely refuse her offer because the devious look in her amber eyes is off putting. For some reason, pretty much everyone around me seems to have a look of mischief on their face that just makes me uncomfortable. Petra is the only one who doesn't have that scary look, but she looks at least mildly annoyed.

"Mazuri, please introduce yourself in a more proper way. We're going to be classmates, please at least try to make a good impression." Petra sighs.

"Fine, fine. Whatever Petra, it's not like she looks like anything special anyways. Like I've already said, I'm Mazuri Okayama, the Ultimate Magician."

* * *

Ultimate Magician

Mazuri Okayama

* * *

"Ugh… I'm already bored of you. Can we move on, Petra?" The boy from earlier swiped his hand into his shoulder-length brown hair with annoyance.

"I am stuck with a bunch of imbeciles. How rude can all of you be?" Petra angrily stomped her foot.

"Says you." Mazuri retorted, blowing her red hair out of her eyes in boredom.

"Hmph. Your petty comments do not phase me. Tio! Do not make me wait!" Petra snapped angrily.

"Alright... The name's Tio Kurogane. Nice to meet you, or whatever." Tio stuck out his hand for me to shake it.

* * *

Ultimate Smuggler

Tio Kurogane

* * *

As I firmly shook it, he squeezed my hand so hard that I flinched in pain.

"Ow!" I cried, yanking my hand back.

"Hey, you tried challenging me by shaking my hand hard." He shrugged nonchalantly.

I laughed at his reply, "You're quite competitive, I see. I'll know not to mess with you."

"Damn straight. Hey, maybe you're not so bad after all." Tio's cocky grin refused to leave his face.

"Hana, do not encourage him. That's the last thing we need. Are you a lady or are you not?" Petra sighed for the upteenth time today.

"I guess she's not then." Tio laughed wholeheartedly.

"Hey, I didn't say that! I'm a very proper lady." I joked.

Mazuri burst out laughing and hit Petra on the back of the head in her fit of laughter. She had seemed very uninterested in our conversation, but laughed as soon as I started joking around. It was nice to see her so involved with the rest of us. She seemed kind of distant.

"Oh my god-" Mazuri was panting and clutching her sides from laughing, "You, a lady? I can just imagine you like uptight Petra over there! Who would want to be like that?"

"Shush, Mazuri. Anyways, I see that you children refuse to be mature about things. Let's just move on and see if there are other students nearby." Petra decided, and marched off.

"What, are we supposed to follow her or something?" Mazuri rolled her eyes and look at her nails in an uncaring manner.

"Might as well. There doesn't seem to be anything better to do." I smiled, and followed after Petra.

Tio was right by my side as he shrugged and followed me. Mazuri seemed really reluctant to go, so we just left her there. However, five minutes later, she caught up to us. She had obviously been sprinting to catch up. Just as I was about to tease her for being lonely, she glared at Tio.

"Tio! You took my deck of cards! How… How did you manage to steal from me?" Mazuri seethed.

"Hey, I'm the Ultimate Smuggler. If you want them back so badly, then here they are." Tio showed her a deck of cards.

Mazuri tried snatching them up, but Tio quickly retracted his hand. He smirked happily and continued to mess with Mazuri. Mazuri got increasingly angry and eventually, she stomped on his foot and salvaged her precious cards. Meanwhile, I was just standing there, laughing. Mazuri gave Tio a very annoyed glare before softening her facial expression.

"Fine, I guess you guys are alright. Don't think we're friends or anything." Mazuri huffed.

Tio and I shared a laugh, and the three of us took out time looking for Petra. We didn't find her for a good hour, but she would be fine by herself. We eventually did find her in a classroom, and she was sternly introducing herself to more students.

* * *

**Hello! I just wanted to inform you all that the SYOC is still open. I have currently accepted a few students, but the female and male slots are both still open. Please send in your OCs if you haven't already. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Prologue 2

A tanned skinned boy was shaking Petra's hand perfectly, not at all intimidated by her stern looks. His posture was nice… Hopefully Petra didn't notice that, or else I wouldn't hear the end of it. Other than his posture, the thing that stuck out to me the most was definitely his scar below his eye.

"Oh. You. Have you grown up a bit in the last few minutes?" Petra scoffed, "I highly doubt it."

"Pffft, cut us some slack. Sorry we can't be Miss Perfect, alright?" Tio rolled his eyes.

"Having proper manners will get you far in life. Anyways, why don't you introduce yourself to Hokuto here?" Petra tapped her fingers on her arm as if she were tapping on a watch.

Mazuri and Tio looked at each other with the exact same look. They obviously wouldn't oblige… They were both to stubborn to, even though it was such a small task. I sigh and I reach out my hand to shake Hokuto's because Petra would obviously be pissed if none of us did anything. Hokuto also looked like there was no way he'd speak first.

"I'm Hana Inoue. It's very nice to meet you." I shook his hand loosely.

"Hana! Put more enthusiasm into it! Do you want your first impression with someone to be that you're lazy and incompetent?" Petra scolded me.

"No, it's alright. I'm Hokuto Leal, as Petra mentioned before." Hokuto briefly smiled and went back to his expressionless mask.

* * *

**Ultimate Hitman**

**Hokuto Leal**

* * *

"A hitman, eh?" Mazuri whispered, "Do you think I could hire him to kill Petra for me?"

"Miss, I'll have to ask you to refrain from speaking so lightly about killing. It is not a joking matter." Hokuto frowned.

"Oh whatever! Why can't you people lighten up?" Mazuri groaned.

Hokuto quickly whispered an apology before saluting Mazuri.

"Quite the serious one, aren'tcha? I don't mind you saluting to the best person here though." Mazuri guffawed and crossed her arms as if she were proud of herself.

"Mazuri, I heard what you said. Please refrain from bad mouthing others, it isn't a lady-like trait. Why don't you act more like Hana and grow up?" Petra piped up soon after. She was seemingly unaffected by Mazuri's harsh words.

Mazuri huffed while rearranging her boa, "Oh great, the nagging nanny speaks again. Why'd you have to go and listen to Petra, Hana? Now she's going to be yapping at us all day. I hate not getting my way!"

"Stop acting like such a child. You can't always get your way." Petra chided.

While Mazuri and Petra were bickering on and on, I spotted a boy from the corner of my eye. He seemed pretty awkward, but somehow he was intimidating at the same time. Honestly, who could blame him. I'd be pretty awkward and not speak up if there were two girls I didn't know bickering non stop with each other.

"Hey, I'm Hana. What's your name?" I put on a smile so I don't scare him off.

"Ted Sakamoto. Nice to meetcha." He smiled in a calming way.

* * *

**Ultimate Boxer**

**Ted Sakamoto**

* * *

"Er… Are they always like this?" Ted asked nervously.

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll calm down. Maybe." I sigh.

"Hey, yet another guy. Nice to see I'm not the only one around now." Tio greeted Ted with a handshake.

"Uhm, what the hell are you two doing?" I asked after four awkward seconds of silence between the two guys.

"Oh sorry! Was that a bit too overboard? I'm a bit competitive." Ted apologized and dropped his hand from Tio's grip.

"Don't worry man, you'll never go overboard with me. I'm pretty strong you know. A boxer, eh? Betcha that it's all talk." Tio teased.

"Hmph, we'll see. I'm quite strong myself, you know." Ted smirked and slugged Tio in a "playful" way. That looked like it hurt-

"Yeah, yeah. You might be alright, but you're just mediocre." Tio smirked back and slugged him back.

"Lovely. Two competitive people." I step in between the both of them as Ted was raising his hand, "Don't cause any trouble, alright?"

"C'mon Hana! Mazuri is distracting Petra. It's the perfect opportunity to see who comes out on top." Tio grinned while pulling up his sleeves.

"Watch yourself, Tio Kurogane! I've got eyes on the back of my head!" Petra whipped around.

"Dammit. Whatever, it's nice to have yet another guy around." Tio teased and slapped Ted on the back.

"Looks like you aren't alone with just the ladies anymore, huh?" I joke and elbow Tio in the arm.

"Meh, it was a matter of time before I couldn't handle the three of you." Tio joked back.

"Tio! I can hear you!" Petra shouted over Mazuri's voice.

"Uhm, should we break it up?" Hokuto asked cautiously.

"No, let us be! I've almost won this argument!" Mazuri glared at him.

"Cockiness can lead to your downfall." Petra calmly stated.

A sudden laughter filled my ears as a girl with hazel brown eyes leans over and slaps her knee. She starts laughing hysterically to the point where it's kind of awkward to watch. At this point, even Petra has raised her eyebrow and stopped paying attention to Mazuri.

As soon as she stopped laughing, Petra spoke up, "Laughing to that extent is very endear-"

"This sure is entertainment. You two bickering is like…" the girl cut off Petra, but broke out into laughter again.

Petra was starting to get pissed, "Excuse me. It is not very polite to cut others off when they are speaking. If you don't mind, I'd like to introduce-"

"Atsuko Koyanagi is the name."

* * *

**Ultimate Comedian**

**Atsuko Koyanagi**

* * *

"If you would so kindly refrain from cutting me off again, I could finally introduce myself!" Petra snapped at Atsuko.

"Sorry, sorry. Don't get mad, at least I introduced myself." Atsuko huffed.

"Hmph. I guess I'll give you credit on that part, unlike someone." Petra glared at Mazuri who instantly glared back.

"Ladies, let's not bring up a fight again…" Hokuto quietly spoke up.

Mazuri had already grown bored of Petra and moved onto a boy near the wall, "Hi, hi! I'm Mazuri, what's your name?"

"..." The boy refused to speak.

"Wow, fine then." Mazuri grunted.

"Minato Morisato." He quietly said.

* * *

**Ultimate Psychologist**

**Minato Morisato**

* * *

"Huh, what was that? Couldn't quite catch that~" Tio sang, just to mess with him.

"I won't repeat myself." Minato replied coldly.

"Jeez, I was just trying to lighten up the mood." Tio scoffed.

"Don't mind Tio. It's nice to meet you." I smiled comfortingly and stuck out my hand.

Much to my surprise, Minato jumped back in horror. He recoiled as if he had been struck. It was very surprising to see such an emotionless guy jump into a panic within moments. As he started to calm down from his sudden change in demeanor, I dropped my hand so I wouldn't provoke him further. He seemed unusually stunned by a harmless gesture.

"Sorry, woman. I don't particularly like handshakes." Minato muttered.

"Oh, my bad... I didn't know." I mutter back awkwardly.

"Hey man, what's wrong? There's nothing harmful about a simple handshake." Tio tried introducing himself for once and held his hand out.

"Hmph." Minato reluctantly shook Tio's hand, but instantly let go and shook his hand as if he were shaking off some sort of virus Tio had passed onto him.

"Damn, no need to be so cold." Tio griped.

"Huh? You'll shake hands with the guy who made fun of you and not the plain and harmless Hana? Tio will steal all of your belongings and Hana is like... well she's just there I guess. What happened to not liking handshakes? What, you afraid of her or something? " Mazuri cackled without joy. It was pretty obvious that she was just messing with him, but she was still pissed off at Petra.

"Be quiet, woman. There is no need to be so obnoxious." Minato swiftly said.

"Why you-" Mazuri was cut off by Petra.

"Mazuri, he speaks the truth. Nobody likes an obnoxious person. It's not very polite to dwell on the matters of people you've just met." Petra scolded.

"Hey! You just cut her off! You scolded me for doing that, yet you can go and do it?" Atsuko's tone was angry at first, but she burst into laughter a beat later.

"Er, Atsuko, it might not be the best thing to bring that up. Just let Petra be, or else she'll be reprimanding you next." Ted sighed.

"I agree, we don't really need Petra to be fighting with you too." Hokuto sheepishly smiled.

"Awww... Don't worry guys, I'm all for laughter! Fighting with Petra doesn't seem like much fun anyways~" Atsuko practically sang.

"Atsuko, your priorities need to be set straight." Petra grumbled, spinning on her heels without missing a beat.

"Oh no... Please not a round two." Ted sighed again.

"Round two... That's ironic for a boxer to say, isn't it?" I snickered at the sudden thought.

"Hey! That's true. Your humor is alright, I guess. Nothing special." Atsuko smiled brightly.

"It looks like that's it for this room. Everyone! Quit dillydallying, let's hurry on to the next room." Petra scolded.

"How do you even know if there are others?" Tio grumbled.

"According to my research, there should be sixteen students. Since there are currently eight in this classroom, there should be eight more left." Minato said monotonously.

"More people? I can barely stand some of you." Mazuri said as if she were uninterested.

* * *

**Here's a list of people who will appear for sure:  
**

**Males:  
Tio Kurogane  
Ryota Morimoto  
Minato Morisato  
Ted Sakamoto  
Hokuto Leal  
Isaac Tsukino**

**Females:**  
**Atsuko Koyanagi**  
**Yukira Kisaragi**  
**Mazuri Okayama**  
**Hana Inoue**  
**Kiyomi Hasegawa**  
**Petra Adamanteen**

**Thank you to PSISomething for suggesting I put up a list of accepted characters! As you can see, there are still 2 spots left for each gender. If you've already sent in an OC and they're not on this list, it is possible I will accept them later. I am trying to determine which character is good enough to stay and would rather wait than tell you're accepted only to disregard that. Sorry for the wait! Thank you so much to all who reviewed.**

**ApexUtopia: Oh hello! I did check out your character and she's on the accepted list. Thank you for reviewing!**

**GinMerric: Thanks! I'm trying to pick a pretty diverse cast so everyone can enjoy them.**

**PSISomething: I put in the accepted list, as you suggested. Thanks for the recommendation.**

**Gh0stlyterran: I'm glad that Mazuri is to your liking! So far the cast is pretty neat ^^**

**PowerPlayer: Yep, the introductions are going to be kinda short. I'll try to make the actual chapters longer, but maybe I'll just give you the content if I've been gone for awhile- Thanks!**


	4. Prologue 3

"There are sixteen students in total, so there must be eight others lurking around here somewhere." Minato muttered thoughtfully.

"Well what are you all waiting for? Let us continue searching." Petra turned around and started marching to the door, but a pretty young lady was already standing at the entrance.

"Oh! You must be other Hope's Peak students." The girl smiled and spoke over her shoulder, "Hey, I found more people!"

"My name is Yukira Kisaragi, the Ultimate Aristocrat. I'm very pleased to meet you." Yukira smiled gently.

* * *

**Yukira Kisaragi  
Ultimate Aristocrat**

_Yukira was very pale and had blood red eyes. She looked kind of like a ghost with her ghastly appearance. Her appearance was definitely odd and she looked very mysterious. She had jet black silky straight hair and her bangs covered her left eye. She was wearing a fancy black dress with a frilly skirt and blouse. She had a black frilly hat sitting on top of her head. She stood four inches below me, at about an average height._

* * *

_"_How lovely, you're a very sweet young lady." Petra absolutely beamed and bowed at a perfect 90 degrees toward her.

"What, you're going to treat her like royalty now? Wait..." I laughed.

"Hm, not bad." Atsuko guffawed by my side.

"You are all pretty annoying, but at least the funny ones aren't half-bad." Mazuri pursed her lips into a frown.

"You should still all be nice to royalty. I'm sorry, my lady." Hokuto bowed as well.

"Oh, don't worry about treating me nicely. I'm one of your fellow peers now." Yukira laughed like the elegant woman she was.

"You see that, Hana? I feel like you should aspire to be like that. When you laugh, you look like a donkey." Tio snickered.

"Wow, thanks." I sarcastically said before laughing.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Tio flicked Atsuko, "I think there really is a donkey in here."

"That isn't very nice." Petra scolded.

"Yeah, your face isn't very nice either." Mazuri muttered under her breath.

"That type of insult is for children." Petra rolled her eyes.

"Guys, we're going to be spending a long time together. Let's just hopefully get along." Ted sighed.

"Emphasis on hopefully, I'm guessing?" Minato smirked.

"Well, of course." Ted sighed again.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get along! This whole experience is an incredible chance to meet new people and have fun." Yukira raised her fist in encouragement.

"Okay sweetheart, whatever you say. Not everyone is as sheltered or as nice as you." Mazuri groaned.

"That's right, not everybody is as sheltered as Yukira. But you definitely were. Didn't you grow up with the rich Okayama family? Or am I mistaken?" Minato asked politely, though I could hear the shade being thrown.

"..." Mazuri stayed silent, but gave Minato the harshest glare I had ever seen in my life.

"You're kidding me... Mazuri is a high-class lady? That is impossible..." Petra was abashed.

"Ha! Looks like Little Miss Antisocial is actually Little Miss Princess!" Tio laughed so hard that he almost fell over.

"I honestly didn't expect that from you, Mazuri." I raised my hand to my mouth to prevent laughter from falling out.

"Shut up! All of you! It's none of your goddamn business what my life is like." Mazuri huffed angrily.

"Cursing is very unrefined... Did your parents not teach you any manners?" Yukira tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Oh my god..." My mouth gaped wide open in surprise.

"Are you fucking serious? I really don't need Petra 2.0." Mazuri rolled her eyes.

"She is correct though, cursing is very unladylike. And Hana, close your mouth, you might catch flies." Petra added.

"Pfffft. I think Hana is the least lady-like." Tio snickered.

"Nobody actually expects anything out of Hana." Petra bluntly stated.

"You boss me around for being mean, yet you do it." Mazuri pointed out rudely.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Was that mean...?" Petra genuinely looked sorry.

"It's alright, I get it all the time." I patted her shoulder in reassurance.

"I'm sure you do." Tio quickly looked away when I glared at him.

"Heeeeellllooo? Is anyone going to welcome me? I've been standing here for a whole 3 minutes!" A rude voice interrupted out conversation.

"Young lady it's not very polite to-" Petra starts, but I cutted her off.

"I don't think it's a good idea to tell this girl what to do." I gave Petra an apologetic smile.

"Do you all know who I am? Kiyomi Hasegawa! The Ultimate Reality TV Star! Gawds!" Kiyomi huffed in annoyance.

* * *

**Kiyomi Hasegawa  
****Ultimate Reality TV Star**

_Kiyomi had dark brown wavy hair that went to about her chest. Her eyes really stood out because they were bright coral that were at the moment tinged with annoyance. She was definitely pretty busty. Her height was average and her skin was a nice tan color. She wore a low-cut cream colored shirt with denim booty shorts and gold sandals._

* * *

"Damn, girl. You got a nice-" Tio was cut off.

"Kurogane! Don't you dare end that sentence or I will end you!" Petra was blushing furiously.

"Hey, I mean all the girls so far are pretty flat." Tio blink his eyes in a mock innocence.

"Hey! You have to at least admit that I'm kind of endowed!" I shot back.

"Eh, fine." Tio rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that's right." I made an ugly face and made a "fight me" gesture.

"Still not to _that _level." Tio whistled.

"Uhm, can you not talk about my breasts and instead get me some water? I'm dying over here!" Kiyomi made a fainting gesture.

"I have to agree with this woman... Talking about females like that is so annoying." Minato rested his hand to his forehead.

"Look, buddy. You see that? Niiiiice." Tio wrapped his arm around Minato and pointed towards Kiyomi.

"Sorry, I just don't think so." Minato pushed Tio away from him.

"Excuse me? Everyone thinks I'm pretty! Does anyone in this dump know who I am? And where is that water I asked for?" Kiyomi whined.

"Sorry, Princess. Nobody is going to do what you ask of them." Mazuri yawned in boredom.

"And I'm sorry _princess_, but nobody is listening to you either." Tio shot at her.

"Oh shit, this again." I tried holding in my laughter.

"How about let's not. There are still others here." Petra sighed.

"Hello? My water? Do as I say! I'm a celebrity!" Kiyomi stomped around like a child.

"Anyways... Sorry, what's your name? I'm Petra Adamanteen." Petra introduced herself to the boy quietly standing by himself.

"Isaac Tsukino. It's nice to meet you as well, ma'am." Isaac said sternly.

"Whoa, Isaac? More like Isatsu, the mood killer." Mazuri whistled lowly.

* * *

**Isaac Tsukino  
****Ultimate Philosopher**

_Isaac had dirty blonde hair that was styled prim and properly off to the right. His eyes were very intimidating, as if he were staring you down and judging every movement you made. They were a steely grey color, which made them look even colder. His skin was a nice ivory color. He was average in build, but had a noticeable scar that ran from his right ear to his chin. He wore black over the knee shorts and black suspenders that crossed over his blue blouse. He had a leather bracket that had the mark of the infinity symbol. On his feet he wore blue vans and white socks. He wore black-rimmed nerd-like rectangular glasses._

* * *

"Stiff much? Lighten up, buddy. It's not like any of us are going to kill you." Mazuri rose her eyebrow in confusion.

"Hehehehehe! You're no fun at all!" Atsuko laughed despite what she said.

"Hm, Atsuko... I actually think he's pretty interesting!" Yukira beamed.

"R-Really? Someone like him?" Hokuto looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Yeah, he's like the mysterious type! That's so cool! I read about these types in books." Yukira stated in a matter-of-factly manner.

"Real life isn't like a storybook..." Mazuri's tone was judging.

"Wouldn't you be enclosed in your mansion all the time as well? How do you know what real life is like." Minato tilted his head when he asked the question.

"Look, I'm not a goddamn princess. I know what real life is like, okay?" Mazuri replied irritably.

"Real life is full of tricks and fun!" Atsuko laughed.

"Er, do you laugh at everything?" Ted asked, while blinking.

"Hahaha!" Atsuko didn't reply and instead continued to laugh.

"Alrightly then... I'll take that as a yes." Ted sighed.

"I wouldn't bother with her if I were you." Petra whispered to Ted.

"Yeah, I made an attempt, but I'll just back off now." Ted whispered back.

"Wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You think this nerd is more interesting than me? I'm a celebrity!" Kiyomi shouted.

"He's like the prince in my favorite book!" Yukira beamed.

"Princes...? That's what people like?" Hokuto bit his lip.

"Well I'm sure most girls do. I'm a princess though! I don't need a prince, especially if they're like some of my parents' friends' sons. I think cool and nice people are the best!" Yukira pondered for a second before replying.

"Cool? That'd be me then." Tio nudged Yukira with his elbow.

"Ha, you wish. And she said nice too." I patted Tio on the back.

"Anyways... It was nice meeting you Isaac." Petra smiled warmly.

"Yeah... Okay." Isaac replied a bit coldly.

"Whoa there. Isatsu, no need to be all mood killing. I just feel your aura killing me." Mazuri pretended like she was choking.

"Hahahaha! He is a mood killer, isn't he? That was a nice nickname Mazuri!" Atsuko high-fived Mazuri, "But don't worry, the Ultimate Comedian is here!"

"The Ultimate Comedian, huh? That's pretty nice." A very good looking boy said thoughtfully.

"Huh? You like jokes? Me too!" Atsuko snickered.

"Anyways, I'm Ryota Morimoto. It's nice to meet you." Ryota shook Atsuko's hand.

* * *

**Ryota Morimoto  
****Ultimate Actor**

_Ryota was a pretty good looking person in general. He had lovely expressive blue eyes. His blonde hair was neatly combed on both sides. He had a round body type and had pinkish skin. He was pretty tall. His smile was contagious with his pearly white teeth. He wore a lime green button up shirt with navy blue suspenders. Over that, he wore a black suit jacket. He wore black dress pants and shiny black dress shoes. Overall, he was nicely presented.  
_

* * *

"Hmm, someone here who is actually famous. Finally!" Kiyomi sighed in relief, "You know who I am, right?"

"Sorry... Your name doesn't really ring a bell. Miyuki Hasemara is what you said your name was?" Ryota looked puzzled.

"Are you kidding me? Ugh!" Kiyomi huffed.

"I know who you are, but you're hardly someone we should be listening to." Minato matter-of-factly stated.

"Hehehe! Finally! Someone who knows my worth." Kiyomi jumped up and down in excitement and tried to hug Minato.

"Back off, woman! Just because I know you doesn't mean I like you." Minato barked in panic.

"Wow, I'm a boxer and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen this much fighting in my entire life." Ted blinked in shock.

"Pffft, that's funny! Everyone is fighting! More than people who always fight! Hahahaha!" Atsuko bubbled gibberish as she continued to snicker.

"Well it's always good to have some competition!" Ted jumped up in excitement.

"It's kind of sad when you have no chance at beating your competition though." Tio and Ryota simultaneously said.

"Round two, fight!" I shouted.

"Is this going to be an inside joke? I love inside jokes!" Atsuko beamed.

"Hey! So do I!" I smiled.

"Weee ooo weee ooo." Tio imitated a siren, "Hana is turning crazy too."

"What's wrong with liking inside jokes?" I asked.

"There's not a problem with that. It's just that you have something in common with _Atsuko._" Tio pointed out.

"She's not that bad!" I crossed my arms.

"Sure, Jan."

"I wouldn't trust anything you say, I mean you're dumb enough to think you're better than me." Ryota cutted into our conversation.

"What did you just say?" Tio growled.

"How is it that I'm the boxer, yet it seems like I'm the only one _not_ getting into a fight?" Ted pointed out.

"Hahahaha! That's, like, ironic!" Atsuko guffawed.

"Ryota was the last one, wasn't he? Let's move on." Minato said.

"You didn't really introduce yourself to me, now did you? Come on, don't be shy. I know I'm pretty cool, but there's no need to be shy!" Ryota smirked.

"Cool? I don't think so." Minato smirked.

"Oh come on now. Aren't I the coolest person you've ever met?" Ryota wrapped his arm around Minato.

"Hardly." Minato stated before leaving the room to find more people. Ryota raced after him while spouting nonsense about his "greatness".

"Let's follow after Minato, he has the right idea." Hokuto piped up.

"That's right! Let's go!" Yukira grabbed Hokuto's hand and raced out of the room.

* * *

***UPDATE* This chapter has now been fixed, sorry for the previous errors. I guess this chapter wasn't that great, huh? Not too many reviews, but I'll try to fix it. Though I really do need to know who I'm lacking when I write.**

**Question: Who do you think is interesting that I'm lacking in writing? I want to try and write all the characters equally, though I'll admit that I'm bad at it and a lot of characters are more introverted and speak less than others. So who do you think should get more spotlight? Other than Kiyomi, of course ;)**

**SoManyOCs: Thanks! I really like SYOCs as well, they are quite enjoyable.**

**ApexUtopia: I'm glad that you like the fic so far. Yeah, this entire cast is pretty neat. I enjoy writing all of these characters. I'm glad you like Hana! Yukira is in this chapter, so I hope she is to your liking.**

**GinMerric: Thanks! Yup, they're all very eccentric, and already don't get along that well. The characters are all really neat, so I hope people have as much fun reading them as I have writing them.**

**PSISomething: Thanks, I'm glad I wrote Ted well and that the characters seem to be to everyone's liking. Alright, I'll add that in. I thought it was kind of awkward putting in a full appearance description at once, but I'll implement it in this chapter.**

**InariKurenai: Yeah, after this chapter, there are still only four left!**

**Update: Mika Sakuraba and and Miki Hinamori are accepted. Hopefully we don't mix up the two with their similar names, but thanks for applying!**


	5. Prologue 4

"So... There's only four other students left right? Then maybe we'll finally get an orientation." I sighed noisily.

"That's correct, and I'd make that assumption as well. Considering that we have six females and six males, I'd surmise that the last four would be a set of two females and two males." Minato responded casually.

"Wow, you really know your stuff, huh?" Ryota patted Minato's back with a wide grin.

"Splendid. It seems like you did your research. Minato, was it?" A female appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes, that would be me. I would assume that you are Mika Sakuraba?" Minato seemed less cautious around her than he did with most females, but he still seemed a bit fidgety.

"That is correct. I am pleased to make your acquaintance, my name is Mika Sakuraba."

* * *

**Mika Sakuraba  
****Ultimate Debater**

_Mika was at an average height and looked to be at a normal weight as well. She had brown hair that reached her chest and was tied in a half-ponytail. She had average looking brown eyes as well. She didn't look like she stood out in an eccentric crowd, but she was definitely something special. She was an Ultimate after all. Her outfit made me think of Sailor Mars since it was a sailor school girl uniform with a red skirt and white top. On her feet were simple white flats._

* * *

"Of course, there were quite a few intelligent people in the bunch. According to what I researched, everything is going along as I thought." Isaac spoke up.

"I did remember a few things about what the forums said about our class. Misfits with intelligent folk. How intriguing." Minato seemed pretty amused.

"Yes, that sounds accurate." Isaac nodded.

"Er, why don't I feel like I fit into either of those categories?" Ted asked with his eyebrow raised.

"You're probably a mix of both!" I piped up, slamming my fist into my open palm.

"Or we don't have to be put into certain categories..." Ted suggested, laughing a bit.

"Hm, yeah. You're right. Although I will agree that I am highly intelligent, I don't think I belong in the misfits group." Tio boasted.

"Hello, genius? Wouldn't that make you part of the intelligent people?" I asked with a frown.

"Yeah, well..." Tio paused, " I don't really think I'm as boring as Minato and especially not Isaac."

"Duly noted." Isaac responded with a frown.

"Woo! I call you Isatsu, the moodkiller, for a reason!" Mazuri smiled eerily.

"Hehehehe! That's good Mazuri!" Atsuko cackled her usual laugh.

"Didn't we already bring this up? Although it's an interesting play on words, it doesn't seem very nice. However, I will give you points on creativity." Petra piped in nonchalantly.

"Excuse me? I have been standing here for quite a while and none of you have had the nerve to greet me?!" Another unknown female stomped her foot obnoxiously, successfully getting our attention.

"Oh of course. Sorry about that. Everyone, this is Miki Hinamori. I'm sure you've heard of her piano playing skills?" Mika introduced Miki to us.

"Very good, Mika. Now you all should introduce yourselves to me." Miki crossed her arms.

* * *

**Miki Hinamori  
****Ultimate Pianist**

_Miki had dark brown hair that was tied into a short braid. Her eyes were glaring holes into my face, and it didn't help that they were a startling shade of icy blue. She was at an average height and looked quite skinny. She was also flatter than an ironing board, usually I don't notice that sort of thing... but maybe it was because she was so young? She was obviously the youngest out of all of us and she reminded me of a junior high kid. She had a dark green tank top on with a sky blue short sleeved jacket over it. She had on denim shorts and covered her legs in pastel green-striped leggings. She had gray-ish blue flats on her feet._

* * *

"Damn." Tio whistled lowly, "Looks like we just formed another group. Welcome, obnoxious."

"Are you talking about me? Don't be rude. I'm not obnoxious, alright?" Kiyomi crossed her arms.

"I'm sure he's not talking about you, don't worry..." Ted reassured her gently.

"Actually, I kind of am." Tio piped in.

"Hey genius. Two doesn't exactly qualify as a category, you know." Ryota shot at Tio.

"Who said there were only two people in that group? Not me. You're in the obnoxious group, actor boy." Tio sneered.

"Excuse me! You all are calling Miki rude in front of her face." Mika snapped to get our attention.

"I don't mind at all. In fact. You!" Miki turned around abruptly and pointed at me.

"Me?" I stuttered, pointing to myself.

"Duh. Who else? You're a choreographer, right? I don't like your style. You haven't even choreographed to any of my songs." Miki pursed her lips.

"Okay? Sorry, jeez." I rolled my eyes, "Aren't you like fourteen? Are you sure that you should be talking to me that way. It's kind of rude."

"You're only standing up to her because she's fourteen, aren't you?" Mazuri snorted in an unlady-like fashion.

"Cue Petra on that laugh..." Tio waited as Petra scolded Mazuri before continuing, "And Mazuri is right. We always pick on you."

"Yeah, but she's fourteen! I can't take that from her!" I pouted angrily.

"You act just like her." Petra wasted no time hurting my ego.

"Ooh! Hey! Who are you?" Yukira's loud shout caught our attention.

"E-Er. Nothing!" The male beside her quickly stuttered.

"You're nothing?" Hokuto asked with a confused look on his face.

"Urk... Sorry. What I meant to say was I'm doing nothing." The male sharply responded.

"That's awfully suspicious." Ted narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"What are you talking about? No it's not! I'm just minding my own business. You ultimates don't need to worry about me." The male laughed in a... well as Ted put it, a suspicious matter.

"I did research on everyone here. We don't need to worry, he just has a habit of hiding his analytical nature." Isaac informed us briefly.

"You don't really need to hide being analytic, Ultimate Linguist." Minato cracked a small reassuring smile.

"Don't look at him like that!" Ryota stomped angrily.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Minato flushed angrily.

"Don't you see? He's really suspicious." Ryota whispered not so quietly.

"Didn't I already bring that up?" Ted mock whispered.

"It's fine... I'm nothing special, so don't pay any attention to me." The male laughed weirdly again.

"Sure... An Ultimate that's nothing special." Yukira mused, then her eyes opened wide in interest, "I don't believe it! Tell me what you're hiding!"

"Calm down Yukira..." Hokuto patted her shoulder and she stopped jumping up and down.

"3... 2... 1..." Petra started mumbling.

"What are you going on about?" Kiyomi interrupted her.

"It's been a full..." Petra waited a few seconds before speaking again, "five minutes since we noticed this man and I still don't know his name."

"..." The unknown man stayed silent.

"Isaac!" Petra shouted.

"His name is Koh Obata." Isaac wasted no time saying.

* * *

**Koh Obata  
****Ultimate Linguist**

_Obata was at a slightly taller than average height. He was average in size and didn't stand out much. His short brown hair reached his ears and his blue eyes weren't that interesting either. He wore sweat pants and a baggy t-shirt. And I thought I was lazy. This was the first day of school, and even I got dressed up!_

* * *

"You sure are... interesting, mister." Yukira inched her face closer to his while standing on her tip-toes.

"Ma'am, there's no need to be so close-" Koh backed up nervously.

"Yukira, you really shouldn't be so close to him. He seems dangerous..." Hokuto panicked, pulling Yukira away from Koh.

"Aren't you dangerous too?" Mazuri tapped her finger to her chin.

"Yeah, _mister, _Ultimate Hitman and all that?" Atsuko inched her face close to Hokuto as Yukira had done to Koh.

"That's different! I would never hurt someone on purpose. My occupation is no laughing matter." Hokuto stuttered nervously.

"But don't hitmen purposely kill people? I don't get it..." Mazuri had a gleam in her eye, and she obviously "got it".

Hokuto visibly flinched as Mazuri and Atsuko kept bothering him. Mazuri was definitely not fond of anyone here, but maybe Atsuko. Sure, it was nice that they were getting along, but the way they were doing it wasn't so nice. I'm kind of a pushover, and that sucks. If I weren't, I guess I would say something. However, Mazuri and Atsuko were about my age, not at Miki's fourteen. I couldn't really say anything...

"Stop! Can't you see that it's bothering him?" Koh shouted abruptly.

"How can you tell?" Mazuri sneered.

"I bet it's his analytical senses!" Atsuko cackled and high-fived Mazuri.

"I'm pretty sure anyone can tell, you idiots." Kiyomi bluntly stated.

"It is pretty obvious..." Mika put in her two cents.

"Duh! I'm the youngest of you losers and I can tell!" Miki burst out angrily.

"I'm sure Atsuko was joking. You guys don't have to be so riled up..." Ted bluntly stated as well.

"Joking...? Oh. I see. I don't usually understand joking." Mika responded thoughtfully.

"Aw, that's boring! Boring!" Atsuko booed.

"Now, now Atsuko. Don't make a commotion." Petra said like she was talking to a child.

Isaac coughed awkwardly, "There's only one more person left now, alright? Orientation should be after this, so hurry it up."

"Hello. I am Xiang Li, the Ultimate Warrior. I look forward to spending time with you all." Xiang bowed politely.

* * *

**Xiang Li  
****Ultimate Warrior**

_Xiang Li was a beautiful woman and had porcelain skin that I was jealous of. Her eyes were a deep onyx color, but they creeped me out since they were so emotionless. Her black hair was tied into a small ponytail and her long bangs framed her face. She adorned a dark red, tight fitting, and v-neck shirt that was covered with a black leather jacket. A white scarf was neatly wrapped around her neck and she wore black converse._

* * *

"It's nice to meet you, Xiang." Petra smiled warmly.

"Something is off though, isn't it?" I thoughtfully spoke out loud.

"You're right. I can't put my finger on it though..." Yukira licked her lips while thinking.

"Oh! I've got it!" I slammed my fist into my open palm, "Minato... Didn't you say there were eight females and eight males total?"

"You're right, Hana! Why are there seven males and nine females then?" Yukira beamed.

"I remember exactly what you said..." I muttered in thought.

* * *

_"Considering that we have six females and six males, I'd surmise that the last four would be a set of two females and two males."  
_

* * *

"Aha! That's exactly what you said!" I recited carefully.

"How do you have photographic memory? And stop looking into outer space like you're in a TV show." Minato dodged the questioning.

"I dunno. I'm pretty scatterbrained, actually." I nodded.

"This is more of a game then a TV show, I think." Isaac nodded as well.

"I agree with Isaac... TV shows are more brutal." Kiyomi nodded in sync with us.

"That's because you're a _reality_ TV star." Koh pointed out.

"Wait! Minato! You dodged the question!" I stopped nodding and shouted.

"Usually my research is correct. I did hear that there would be eight males and eight females..." Minato muttered.

"You're not wrong, actually. Mind explaining, Xiang?" Isaac turned to face the warrior.

"Of course. I am actually a male, you see." Xiang coughed awkwardly.

"What!?" Kiyomi squawked in surprise, "No way... not with porcelain skin like that!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It is true." Xiang smiled meekly.

"I don't believe it... A male that is almost as pretty as me..." Kiyomi clutched her heart as if she were in pain. She's a really good actress-

"You just said that out loud." Miki pointed out.

"Of course I'm a good actress. I'm an Ultimate." Kiyomi frowned.

"I didn't mean it like that! I just... didn't know you were so talented in all fields of acting." I hastily replied.

"Hmph, well I am." Kiyomi flipped her hair over her shoulder with a smug grin.

"Don't worry, Kiyomi, you are much prettier than I am." Xiang reassured her with a smile.

"Obviously!" Kiyomi giggled in satisfaction.

"Nice save, Hana." Yukira giggled.

"It's what I do." I winked slyly.

"Leave the coolness to me..." Tio stared at me with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Heh... If you need the coolest one, that'd be me." Ryota nudged me.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." I huffed.

"You get that you're not cool? Great!" Miki smugly smirked.

"Hey! I won't take sass from you, missy." I rolled my eyes.

"Get used to it!" She laughed.

"Damn, Hana... Losing to a fourteen year old..." Tio snickered.

"She's pretty lame..." Mazuri snickered as well.

"Is this how you all treat people...? That's not very nice." Xiang asked with a confused look on her- his face.

"As the brat said... Get used to it!" Atsuko clapped in joy.

"I see that it'll take quite a while for me to fit in." Xiang laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah, what category do you fit in?" Tio asked curiously.

"He seems like the smart folk, right?" I nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah, you're right." Tio nodded as well.

"Not the categories again-" Ted smiled with an amused tone.

"Categories? That helps distinguish people easier. Not that I'm analyzing you all..." Koh blabbed on.

"Alright... Looks like I'm with a bunch of weirdos." Ted nodded to himself.

**DING DONG BING BONG**

"**HEY LOSERS. Since you've gotten all nice and cozy with each other... meet in the gym for your orientation. Don't be late, upupupu!"**

* * *

**Gh0stlyterran: **I'm glad you like the story so far! Yes, they are plenty of fun to write as well. I hope I'm writing Mazuri alright.

**ApexUtopia: **That's great that I'm writing Yukira in character! Ha, I made her more curious than refined this chapter, but I'll even it out next time... hopefully. Yup! I like having a humorous undertone despite the fact it will have despair later on.

**Headphone Jack: **Nice! I'm glad I'm portraying Ryota well. Thank you!

**6747: **Yeah, this cast is very eccentric, but that leads up to an interesting story, right?

**Aviator Capi: **Thank you! I appreciate you taking time to read this story.

**PSISomething: **No need to worry, it's very appreciated that you bothered to review while being busy! Yeah, you're right about them being at each other's throats so easily. The cast is pretty eccentric and weird though, and I guess that's just how they are. Tio picks fights with people just because, Mazuri doesn't like... well anyone. Petra is very blunt on other people's flaws. Miki was said to instantly criticize the protagonist. Oops, I did notice that about Ted as well. I'll be sure to try and stop that from now on! I lost all my files recently, unfortunately. I'll list the descriptions here:

Hana: She has long brown hair that is as neat as a pin. It reaches her lower chest and is slung over her shoulder in a low braid. When dancing or thinking hard, she pulls it up into a high ponytail. She is quite tall and stands at 172 cm/5'8". She is not too muscular, more lean for dancing. She does have a habit of eating a lot and is more fat than the average female. She's makes sure to keep it a... healthy enough level. She's curvier than average, but it's not as much as Kiyomi or anything. Her eyes are a green color and are in an almond shape. Her skin tone is peachy, but more on the tanner side. During the prologue, she is wearing a black corset with gold lining and over it is an oversized leather jacket. She has a white knee-length skirt that has a gold music staff running across it with notes. On her feet are simple black ankle height boots. They have a small heel, but it doesn't elevate her much. She is a bit insecure about her height and only wears them so she sounds classy.

Petra: She is a very pretty girl with fierce blue eyes that seem to stare into your soul. She keeps her scarlet red hair in a neat bun on top of her head with a gold hairpin. She is quite slender and her chest is a modest size. Her skin is very fair. She has a the typical maid outfit in grey, but the apron is black with white lining. There is a white X over the chest area.

Mazuri: She has bright amber eyes, but they always seem to have the look of mischief on them. Her skin is pale and her hair is dyed red and cut into a pixie cut. Her makeup is a bit odd; she gives herself dark circles under her eyes and has bright crimson lips. She's quite short and is an average weight for her height. She stands at 5'2". She adorns a dark grey dress with puffy sleeves and black lace. On her feet are white ballet shoes and on her legs are red stockings. She has a black furry boa wrapped around her neck. Her signature touch is a large red magician's hat.

Tio: He is as tall as Koh, at 5'10. He has tanned skin and an athletic build. He has brown eyes and a light brown gotee as well as light brown short hair. He wears a grey t-shirt and a black short-sleeved over-shirt. His jeans are worn and have a faded touch to them. He has thick sunglasses that shield his eyes and are reflective.

Hokuto: He has nicely tanned skin and a horizontal scar slashed beneath his left eye. His short dark brown hair is accompanied by spiky bangs and brown eyes. He wears a black fedora on top of his head with a grey plus symbol that resembles a sniper's scope target. He wears an all black suit with black boots and white gloves. His tie is purple and he has a gray sleeveless polo that's hiding a bulletproof vest. He has an athletic build, but he's a bit shorter than average, being about 5'5 or 165 cm.

Ted: (well you know what he looks like, but I'll add it for everyone else) Ted is on the shorter side than average, only being about 5'3". He has an average and healthy weight to match with his height. Ted has a well-kept appearance with his tanned skin and slicked back black hair. He has brown eyes and a good build with well toned muscles. He has a small scar on his left cheek. He wears a dark green tank top and a blue sweatband around his right wrist. He has his black boxing gloves with him almost all the time. He wears navy blue tracksuit bottoms and has black and green boxing shoes.

Atsuko: She is a very tall woman who stands at 5'10" and has a weight that is a bit above average for that height. She is slightly tan and is lean with her well-toned muscles. She has a pretty large chest. She has smooth short black hair with a spiky fringe. She wears it in a small ponytail that sticks out on the right side. Her hazel eyes are always sparkling with some sort of mischief and matches her almost constant wide grin.

Minato: He has short neat dark green hair accompanied by dark blue eyes. He's always seen wearing his white headphones that make him kind of look like a bug. He's quite slender and isn't very muscular at all. He possesses a normal school uniform with the jacket undone to reveal the violet undershirt. He has pale-ish skin and usually looks quite ghost-like due to his uninterested expression or deadpanning face.


	6. The Performance Begins!

"Upupupu? What's that?" Yukira asked, putting her finger to her chin.

"Don't worry about that, Yukira. Let's hurry over to the gym." Hokuto patted Yukira's hair and she huffed at him.

"Alright! I wonder what's going to happen! Ooh, I'm so excited!" Yukira cheered, and with that, she was off. Hokuto was right behind her.

"What's she in such a hurry for? It's still early and I'm tired, ugh." I raised my hands over my head in a yawn and looked to the others.

"Well, I don't know what you all are waiting for, but I'll be going now as well. Try not to be late, okay?" Miki turned away and walked out of the room.

"Come on, everyone. Let's all go together!" Mika smiled and ushered us all out the door.

"What do you think will happen at orientation?" Ted asked me with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I dunno... Probably just a boring old lecture and stuff. But this is Hope's Peak Academy! It'll get cooler from here, right?" I smiled and raised my fist.

"Whoa, a bit excited, are we?" Ted smiled.

"You know, a lot of people would _kill_ to attend Hope's Peak Academy. And... If I succeed here, I can make my parents proud and all, y'know." I muttered, biting on my lip.

"To get better at boxing... To be stronger. It does sound nice, and that's why I'm here. Plus, I have people waiting for me back home." Ted nodded at me.

"Oh really? Like who? I love my family and all, but if I don't come back successful they might just disown me!" I laughed awkwardly.

"That doesn't sound so nice. I have my family as well as my girlfriend." Ted smiled at the thought of his girlfriend.

"Never mind me, what's your girlfriend like?" I clapped my hands in anticipation and jumped up.

"Well, she's nice." Ted seemed to be racking his brain for more ideas, "And she's also pretty much all of my self control. She was the one who suggested I come here, so I'll make her proud! But I have to remember to stop ripping off my sleeves."

"Pffft! That sounds like something a video game character would do." I tried muffling my laughter, but to no avail.

"Like I said, she's pretty much all of my self control. I mean, I don't think I do stupid things... but there are some things I was better off not doing." Ted scratched his head and bashfully laughed.

"Hey! Please hurry it up, you two!" Petra shouted from down the hall.

"Coming!" I shouted and rushed over next to Minato and Ryota.

"Jeez, how big is this place? Where exactly is the gym...?" Ryota groaned and put his arms behind his head in a lazy pose.

Minato nervously inched closer to Ryota at my arrival, "Shouldn't you be happy the the campus that will house you for the next few years is big? And stop whining... All the noise is hurting my concentrating."

"Concentrating? What do you have to be thinking about now? Just socialize!" Ryota's mouth stretched out into a grin.

"Hmm... Not now. We'll have plenty of time later. But doesn't it seem like the way they're summoning us for an orientation is kind of odd? Usually upperclassmen are greeting the new students with a garish ceremony or something over the top like that..." Minato muttered in thought.

"Ah, don't worry about it Minato! It's Hope's Peak Academy, you know. Not your average school." Ryota waved off Minato's concerns.

"Yes! I know that. Anyways, hush now. Let's busy ourselves with finding the gym. You'll be spending all your time there, now won't you? Instead of somewhere useful like the library, maybe." Minato whispered the last part under his breath and stalked off.

"Heh. Maybe. Wait... WAIT! Minato!" Ryota whined and ran after him.

Ah, Hope's Peak Academy. What a joy it is to actually be here! I was actually pretty concerned on what life would be like when I came here. A choreographer honestly isn't that great of a talent. I mean I can dance pretty well too, but it doesn't match up to some of the other talents that have come through this school. I was worried about the students being kind of snobby and rude. I'm just a regular person... kind of... who has a lower middle class household. I'm the type of person to make jokes so others notice me. Yup. That's me. I thought I had to barely escape social interaction and just do well in school and later be successful in life to make my parents happy, but maybe I could have some fun here. Even people like Mazuri who seemed to want to not make friend was laughing it up with Atsuko. Everything wouldn't be as bad as I originally thought. I'm pretty normal compared to all the people, though. Hopefully my humor can get me into a group with the others...

"Interesting." A voice muttered from behind me.

"Koh?" I asked, shocked.

"Are you worried about being too normal?" He inquired... a bit creepily.

"W-What? How could you tell what I was thinking?" I stuttered, but quickly regained my composure.

"No, no... It's just written on your face. I could see it. Don't worry about it though! I'm quite normal myself, you know." Koh gave me a reassuring smile.

"... Are you now?" I gave him a face that obviously showed him that I wasn't very convinced.

"Well, yes. You're not exactly boring either. You're pretty unique." He smiled with reassurance again.

"You know what, I'll just take the compliment. Thanks!" I smiled back.

"Pfffft. Someone complimenting Hana? What a shocker!" Tio came up behind us.

"Oh my my! Dearest Tio! Stop being rude!" Mazuri's voice mimicked Petra's and Atsuko started having a laughing fit next to her.

"Dearest Tio? Wow, your reaction isn't very spot on. I guess it's natural since you don't have any acting experience, right?" Kiyomi deadpanned.

"It's just plain old fun! We're mocking her... hehe!" Atsuko guffawed.

"Acting... Do none of you really not know me?" Kiyomi asked with a disbelieving tone.

"I don't really watch reality TV. I'm sure pretty much everyone else here doesn't either. But I've heard of you! If that counts?" I told her to calm her down.

"Well her shows are all of that stupid celebrity reality TV junk. Not anything real." Minato popped into our conversation.

"Oooh! Have you watched my show?" Kiyomi's eyes gleamed.

"Well, yes- I've done some research on everyone here." Minato stated as if it were normal.

"Sweet! Don't you think my acting is pretty good?" Kiyomi reached to give Minato a hug, but he backed up in an instant.

"Back up, woman! Do not touch me." Minato panicked, before straightening out his shirt and regaining his composure.

"Whoa... No need to be so panicked, buddy." Kiyomi laughed nonchalantly.

"She's... Quite easygoing, isn't she?" Koh stated with a gleam in his eye.

"Hmph. Don't believe that no names like you can be friends with me!" Kiyomi huffed.

"Aaaaand there it goes." Ted laughed good-humoredly.

"Getting along, now are we?" Petra smiled, clapping gently.

"Did Petra just smile?" Mazuri feigned immense surprise.

"Ah! There it is! Acting!" Kiyomi clapped happily.

"An odd one... All of you are, actually..." Koh blinked in surprise.

"Am I that odd...?" Petra frowned with distaste, "Well, I guess I need to change that."

"No, no! It makes you unique, you know." Koh shook his head violently.

"I think you're a very lovely person, Petra." Mika offered a gentle smile.

"Do you now?" Mazuri muttered under her breath.

"Why... thank you." Petra smiled awkwardly and briskly turned away.

"How sweet. But come on. We do not have all day." Isaac finally spoke.

"Who got on your nerves?" Tio muttered.

"Nobody did, you idiot. More like who messed up your entire nervous system? You're a disgrace." Isaac directly insulted without batting an eye.

"Umm... What?" I voiced pretty much everyone's shock.

"What? Did you all expect me to be boring and dull? I state what I think, and sarcasm is how I personally choose to word it." Isaac stated like we were supposed to expect that from him.

"Er..." Tio still stood shocked, but he seemed pretty pissed off.

"Well if you all are going to stand like idiots over here... Then you might as well push the doors into the gym. We've arrived." Isaac said and wasted no time entering the gym.

"Damn, what was that? Pfffft..." Miki laughed good-naturedly before following him inside.

"Well, that was quite shocking. Conflict is never good." Xiang muttered worriedly, but he didn't really seem shocked.

"How are you not surprised?" Mika snapped out of her daze.

"I mean... It's not too bad, I guess." Xiang shrugged and walked into the gym.

I nervously put my hand on the door, but retracted it. Was I really ready for Hope's Peak Academy? Maybe I should just try next year or something... I know they accepted me and all... I really should be happy, but I couldn't help the ominous feeling at the bottom of my stomach. My talent is pretty cool. It's not that bad! I mean they've accepted some pretty weird things. I'll be okay.

"You don't need to be nervous, Miss Inoue. Just relax. Everything will be alright." Koh smiled at me.

"Yeah... You're right." I smiled back and walked into the brightness of the gym.

"WHOA! This place is huge!" Ryota shouted, and his echoes bounced off the walls.

"Refrain from being so loud, would you? We can all hear you." Petra winced and covered her ears.

"Yeah, jeez actor boy. It wouldn't hurt you to calm yourself." Mazuri looked seriously annoyed.

"Ew. Being so obnoxious... is tacky, isn't it?" Miki had a look of disgust on his face.

"Come on now, you all don't need to be mean to Ryota. Ryota, just apologize for causing a disturbance." Minato sighed in exasperation.

"Wait... Before that, Minato... Isn't there supposed to be an orientation here or something? Where are the balloons? The ceremony? In fact... where is anything?" Mika asked with complete shock.

"She's right! There's nothing here! That's a huge disappointment. I was expecting a lot. Is a boring empty room usually what greets new students? I'm greeted by a maid every room I walk into..." Yukira muttered in disappointment.

"No, Yukira... That's not usually how it is. There's definitely something off." Hokuto had a look of unease on his face.

**"Upupu! Something off? More like the best orientation you suckers will see! Or perhaps the last! Upupu!" **A voice ominously called out of nowhere.

"Who is there? Reveal yourself immediately!" Hokuto shouted, and he got into a defensive pose around Yukira.

"Hey! Someone should protect me too!" Kiyomi whined.

"Shush! Concentrate on what's important." Isaac instantly ceased her whining.

"Show yourself. If you don't, we can find you." Xiang said with a stern voice.

"**Not to worry! I'm right here!**" A... what the hell was that appeared from behind the podium at the front of the gym. The thing... was a bear? It seemed to be split down the middle, one side being white and the other being black. The white side was like a normal teddy bear, but the other side was pretty creepy. It had a red eye that was flashing ominously.

"A teddy bear! I never knew that orientations at commoner's places were this cool! Or does this count as a commoner's school...?" Yukira yelped in happiness.

"No, Yukira. This is definitely not normal. Stay back." Hokuto warned her.

"**Yeah! Listen to him! How dare you call your headmaster a teddy bear? How ungrateful. Have your parents taught you any-**" The... teddy bear thing was cut off.

"Are you done? Just get to the point." Isaac demanded.

"**Sheesh, tough crowd or something here?**" The bear frowned.

"What are you going to tell us?" Mika piped up.

"**Aw, getting straight to the point? That's so awfully boring!**" The bear whined loudly.

"Are you going to explain to us what the hell you're doing here? Or do we have to call for a real representative to explain things to us?" Miki asked sternly.

"**Jeez, jeez! Stop pestering me! I get nervous in front of a crowd..." **The bear put its paws together and lowered his head.

"Hokuto... actually I noticed something. Is it normal for a headmaster to call his students losers? If so, that's awfully weird." Yukira whispered her question.

"This is odd, Yukira. And don't refer to him as our headmaster, he's obviously an imposter." Hokuto muttered back.

"**An imposter? Me? How could you make such a rude accusation! Where's your proof?" **The bear mocked crying.

"He doesn't really need much proof for people to believe his claim..." Mika said, and we all nodded.

"**Oh, I expected more from the Ultimate Debater! Evidence and proof are everything!**" The bear laughed, his red eye flashing a dangerous looking shade of red.

"Proof does mean everything in court, but this isn't court and it's quite obvious you're not our headmaster." Xiang said without missing a beat.

"**Trust me, kiddos! You'll be seeing a court soon and even as obvious claims as you seem to think won't be so obvious anymore! I'm your headmaster, and I won't take disrespect from you losers. Unless... Does someone want an early punishment?**" The bear laughed in a crazy manner, and everyone backed away.

"Punish-" Ryota didn't get to finish before a set of spears came out of nowhere to impale the poor ground.

"What the hell was that? You crazy bear!" Miki screamed in shock.

"Explain this immediately! I will call my managers!" Kiyomi's eyes were wide in fear.

"**Why don't you losers shut up and listen to me? I'll explain everything! My name is Monokuma and I'll be your headmaster from now on!**" Monokuma shouted angrily.

"NO! Don't say another word! I want out of here!" Kiyomi gasped.

"Shhh, let him speak!" Isaac irritably said.

"**Don't tell me you didn't notice! All the windows are bolted shut... Why do you think that is?**" Monokuma giggled immaturely.

"Don't tell me that there is no way out..." Xiang's eyes widened at the realization.

"D-Don't be stupid, Xiang... That's preposterous! Hahaha!" Ryota backed up, before yelping and bumping into Minato.

"Oh dear... He used a big word. He's definitely not doing so well." Minato worriedly muttered.

"I feel like he's trying to be nice, but that wasn't really..." Koh said with amusement.

"Hehehe! It's kinda funny, aint it?" Atsuko giggled.

"Your grammar is out of line." Petra stated, "Now say it again, but correctly."

"**Whoa, excuse me lady! Don't steal my spotlight. There is a way out. You won't like it, but there is a way!**" Monokuma hopped up and down.

"Tell us what we have to do to get out." Isaac said, not really shaken by any of this.

"Oh! I know! We have to find our way out! Doesn't that sound fun?" Yukira smiled and clapped happily.

"**No! You stupid aristocrat girl! This isn't a game! Well... it is to me. Upupupu!**"

"I believe you were getting to the point? Sometime this week." Isaac sighed in annoyance.

"**Oh yeah. You have to kill a fellow student and get away with it to escape!**" Monokuma cackled evilly.

"Hehehehehehehehehehe! That's so funny!" Atsuko laughed so hard she fell over.

"**What the hell is wrong with this girl.**" Monokuma looked unamused.

"That's a funny joke!" Atsuko laughed, "You're funny!"

"**I will not be made fun of! If you die, that's not my fault. But that's how you leave. Now... take a device from the box in front of you. This is your e-Handbook.**" Monokuma continued nonchalantly.

"Whoa what the fuck? Don't even think about going on! Explain this shit to us! You can just nonchalantly change the subject. Do you seriously expect us to... k-kill each other?" Ryota burst out shouting from nowhere, "And if you really are, that's not fair! There are... people like the Ultimate Hitman here. How are the rest of us supposed to compete?"

"Please do not bring up my title in that way..." Hokuto shifted uncomfortably.

"**I guess you're just plain unlucky then, and Hokuto here is lucky. Yes, I really expect you losers to kill each other. And I know you will." ** Monokuma stated normally.

"Hold the phone! I don't particularly like anyone here, but there are obviously quite a few things WRONG about what you're making us do!" Mazuri shouted in defiance.

"**Wrong? I don't see what's wrong, Magician Lady!**" Monokuma acted oblivious.

"There are obviously many things wrong with what you have told us. Firstly, we are students of Hope's Peak Academy. How did we end up here? Secondly, it is illegal to kidnap people and hold them against their will. Thirdly, killing people is against the law. That's not all, but it sums it up quite well." Mika brought up.

"**Hah! You sure are smart, but not smart enough! Don't you get it? The police and law enforcement aren't coming to save you. You're on your own now! So if you wanna leave, you gotta kill!**" Monokuma stomped his foot on the stage.

"Your grammar is incorrect-" Petra was cut off.

"Don't try to correct him, Petra. He doesn't deserve any help." Ted stated, his face looking unusually grim.

"Guys! It's all one big joke! Hehehehehe! What a funny trick!" Atsuko was still laughing manically to herself.

"Don't you get how serious this is? I will never understand females..." Minato sighed, giving up on speaking to Atsuko.

"He can't really expect us to kill each other... That's just absurd." Xiang muttered with worry.

"**Oh, but I can and I do, Little Soldier Boy! Now take your e-Handbook and look at the damn rules! The sooner finish reading the rules, the sooner I get to stop looking at your ugly faces!**" Monokuma shouted.

"Ugly? I am very beautiful, or else I would not fit TV life!" Kiyomi stomped her foot angrily.

"Shh... Kiyomi, just look over the rules. Don't let him get to you." Mika calmed down the distressed reality star.

"This situation is definitely odd... but there is no way that there is no way out." Koh said thoughtfully.

"**Ugh! You losers just don't get it! Whatever, I'm out!**" And with that, the crazy bear vanished.

"I'm leaving! I am calling my manager right... now..." Kiyomi trailed off and reached for her pockets.

"What's wrong, Kiyomi?" Xiang asked.

"My... my phone? It's gone! I don't understand; I never lose sight of it!" Kiyomi panicked.

"There's no way escape could be that easy. He obviously took away all electronics from us and is replacing them with... these things." Isaac pointed to the device that had come in the box.

"What is that thing? It's nowhere as nice as my phone! I need my phone!" Kiyomi screeched.

"Kiyomi... Calm down. It'll be alright. Just grab one of the e-Handbooks and read the rules, alright?" Xiang said in a soothing tone.

"O-Okay... I guess..." Kiyomi obviously looked distressed.

"T-There's no way this is real. I'll just wake up from this weird nightmare any time now. And then I'll be on my way to Hope's Peak Academy." Ryota seemed to be hyperventilating.

"Shhh... Ryota. It's alright. It'll be alright. Calm down." Minato seemed really awkward calming people down.

"Ryota, It'll-" I started to say, but he instantly stopped me.

"Hana?! Don't play games with me! I don't trust you. Any of you! Are you planning to kill me? Huh? Keep a safe distance away!" Ryota shouted suddenly and I scrambled away.

"Hey, man. Don't let this get to you so badly. We'll be okay." Ted said gently and soothingly, "Just read the rules now, okay?"

"Easy for you to say! You're a boxer! You can take people down." Ryota panicked.

"Ryota. It'll be alright. Just relax, okay?" Minato quietly said, and patted Ryota's head.

"O...Okay." Ryota inhaled deeply and shut his eyes before opening them and looking calmer.

"Why don't you look at the rules too? It'll be good to see what's going on." Petra told me.

I nervously looked at the shiny black tablet that I had gotten from the stage. It looked like a normal tablet, nothing I would normally bat an eye at. But this tablet felt unusually heavy in the tense situation. As I opened it up, it displayed my name and my ultimate ability as well as general information about yours truly. I clicked the "Rules" button, and a list appeared on the screen before me.

**Rule Number One: **All violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly forbidden!

**Rule Number Two: **Any destruction of video cameras is absolutely illegal!

**Rule Number Three: **10 PM to 7 AM will be known as "Night Time" There will be an announcement that tells you when Night Time is in effect. There are some places that will be closed during the night, and the water will be shut off.

**Rule Number Four: **A culprit who kills another student (or students) will earn the right to "graduate" meaning they earn their freedom back to the real world. They have to pass a Class Trial in order to graduate. If the guilty party is found guilty, they alone will be punished. If the culprit manages to trick all of their fellow students, they will graduate and the other students will be punished.

**Rule Number Five: **When three or more people discover a body, a body discovery announcement will occur.

**Rule Number Six: **You may not break any of the school's property, unless there is a case where someone is missing and you are looking for their dead body. However, all the rooms needed to find who the culprit is will be available during investigation times.

**Rule Number Seven: **You may only kill two people at once. This is to prevent a win by mass murder.

**Rule Number Eight: **Loaning your e-Handbook to anyone is strictly forbidden.

**Rule Number Nine: **Rules can be added any time by Headmaster Monokuma.

**Rule Number Ten: **Failure to abide by the rules can lead to a stern punishment.

"It seems like this is really happening." Xiang said with anger lacing his tone.

"What the hell is this? I sure as hell didn't sign up for this!" Tio muttered angrily.

"Don't be vulgar, Tio. Calm down. There is certainly a way out, but we'll just have to find it." Petra stated in a matter-of-factly way.

"Look Miss Optimist, there might be a way out... but isn't it easier to just kill? What about it?" Mazuri piped up with a gleam in her eye.

Petra instantly smacked Mazuri's head, who recoiled in surprise and pain, "Don't you dare say that, young woman! We will get out of here alright."

"Yes, we will be alright, Mazuri. Do not worry, okay?" Xiang offered a smile.

Mazuri scoffed and looked to the side, "I don't care what you losers do. I don't like any of you and I will not be on friendly terms with any of you. Mark my words."

"Isn't it a bit late for that? You seem to be happy joking it up with Atsuko." Isaac brought up.

"Shut your mouth, nerd boy! I'm leaving!" Mazuri hurriedly stalked out of the room.

"Yay! Wasn't that a lot of fun?" Atsuko smirked.

"You dunce! Do you not understand? Is there something wrong with you?" Petra seemed to be getting agitated.

"Do not worry, Petra. Why don't you go and calm down? It'll be better for you." Koh patted her shoulder, and she nodded.

"Everyone seems really upset. Why don't we go investigate the school to find a way out? If you're not feeling so well, you can go to the dorm." Kiyomi got everyone's attention.

"Yes, I do believe that Kiyomi has brought up a good idea." Mika agreed.

"Why do we have to listen to her?" Miki crossed her arms in defiance.

"Miki, don't you want to find a way out? Come on now, let us go." Mika asked awkwardly.

"Hmph. Alright then." Miki sighed in an exasperated manner.

"Mika, if you find Mazuri on the way out, be sure to tell her that as well!" Xiang shouted as Mika was getting away.

"Actually, let us have a meeting in the morning to discuss what we have found. We will hold it in the cafeteria." Isaac said, just as Mika and Miki were leaving, and they both nodded.

"Huh. You actually want to be around other people?" Petra raised an eyebrow.

"Do not be so surprised. It is generally better to work in a group and discuss what has been found." Isaac deadpanned.

"Are you sure? I'd expect someone like you to say, _I'd rather work by myself. It'd be faster than working with you idiots._" Tio recited.

"That's a good impression, actually." Kiyomi smiled, an impressed look on her face.

"Hmph." Isaac sighed before just leaving.

"Wow, Minato. And I thought you were cold." Ryota nudged the psychologist on the shoulder.

"I'm not _cold, _you imbecile." Minato muttered.

"Oh, there he is! I was worried since you were being all nice when I was upset." Ryota smiled. He obviously wasn't happy though, but it sure looked believable. That's how it is, as the Ultimate Actor.

"You made a fast recovery." Koh noted, kind of to himself.

"Yeah! I'm perfectly fine now!" Ryota smiled.

Koh and I looked to each other and shared a knowing look. Even though he was a really good actor for his age, there was no way he was okay. He was practically in pieces just seconds ago, and he was up on his feet acting like he was okay. He was fooling a few people, but not us. It wasn't obvious... but it just felt wrong.

"Ryota, don't strain yourself, alright?" Yukira told him with a worried look on her face.

"Come now, Yukira. Did you want to have a look around?" Hokuto called from near the door with a smile on his face. He wasn't happy. He was just faking it... It seemed like that was the case with a lot of people recently.

"Sure! I want to get to know things! Let's go, Hokuto." Yukira laughed and rushed over to his side.

"Let us not linger in this room any longer than necessary. Come along, the rest of you. We can find a way out, alright?" And with that, Petra ushered us all out the door.

* * *

**WHOA OKAY SO... I'm leaving for nerd camp really soon and I know it's like freaking 1 AM in the morning, I am so sorry. I've been waiting for my beta reader to reply to me, but he's busy and all so honestly I have to publish this unedited version before I leave. I'm so sorry for this late notice, but I hope you guys liked that chapter!**

**HeroinofDarkness: **Heh. Xiang is going to be in for a real shitstorm is correct! Despair has taken off, and it's stop is at Hope's Peak Academy! And thanks, yeah... I thought it would be great if Kiyomi thought Xiang was a girl. Plus, I got the chance to break the fourth wall!

**Otaku Eloise: **Well, she gets development, like Saionji, so don't worry! I hope you'll like her social link hehe. Thanks! Actually, in Japan, high school is actually grades 10 and up, and Miki is a 9th grader. So it doesn't really work out, but I'm willing to let it slide as lots of us probably didn't know that. Plus, 9th graders tend to turn 15, yes? But don't worry about discrimination... Hehe, I'm actually fourteen myself. If that's a shocker or not... but yeah, on my way to high school go me.

**White Weasel: **Well Mika is a real sweetheart! Of course she'll be nice and show Miki around. Miki will have a social link done so we'll see what you think about her then. Hmm. I'll do that for the first few chapters considering that you should know them in the end. I'll put them here:

Hana Inoue - Ultimate Choreographer  
Petra Adamanteen - Ultimate Maid  
Mazuri Okayama - Ultimate Magician  
Tio Kurogane - Ultimate Smuggler  
Hokuto Leal - Ultimate Hitman  
Ted Sakamoto - Ultimate Boxer  
Atsuko Koyanagi - Ultimate Comedian  
Minato Morisato - Ultimate Psychologist  
Yukira Kisaragi - Ultimate Aristocrat  
Kiyomi Hasegawa - Ultimate Reality TV Star  
Isaac Tsukino - Ultimate Philosopher  
Ryota Morimoto - Ultimate Actor  
Mika Sakuraba - Ultimate Debater  
Miki Hinamori - Ultimate Pianist  
Koh Obata - Ultimate Linguist  
Xiang Li - Ultimate Solider

**Gin-Ex-Machina: **Sweet! Don't sweat it, I know you have your own agenda. I'm sorry that I didn't get the chance to tell you that I had to publish this unbetaed, but I came back from a concert and it's 1 AM and I thought it'd be done, but it's not so I really have to post this before I leave! No problem, I got you right here! Although I'm not the best at writing comebacks, so these are kinda awkward oops. Well I responded to you about the latter in your review as well, but I'm hoping I'll slowly make the characters more unique in their own way! And I'm slowly getting better, thank you so much!

**HERE IS THE QUESTION: **Who do you want to see get a social link? There are certain people who I've already done and people who will DEFINITELY get social links due to their participation in the story. Yukira Kisaragi, Isaac Tsukino, and Ted Sakamoto are guaranteed social links before the first trial. I also decided to write ahead because I was in the writing mood even though I've made the worst decision ever because it is 1 AM and I have to perform early tomorrow and stay out late tomorrow and then wAKE UP AT 3 AM pls. Miki Hinamori, Ryota Morimoto, and Isaac Tsukino are already done, so you don't need to sweat about them. Who else do you want to learn about then?


	7. School of Killing

We, minus Mazuri, caught up with Isaac soon after he left. We walk through the halls of the so called school. I feel so stupid for not realizing that this isn't Hope's Peak Academy. Even though I'm not exactly the smartest person, I'm not dumb enough to not notice giant iron plates. And the security cameras that I had now noticed everywhere? It's certainly odd that I hadn't noticed them before.

"Even though this is obviously not Hope's Peak Academy... It sure looks like a school, doesn't it?" Ryota murmured, and I nodded.

"Indeed. Maybe that is why we didn't get suspicious at first." Isaac let out a frustrated growl. "I can't believe I didn't notice any of this."

"I'm wondering the same." Minato sighed to himself.

"Well, the hall we were walking through to get to the gym didn't have any windows, and the security cameras have been concealed until now. So it's understandable ." Koh said, as it were obvious.

"How did you notice all of that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"It is quite obvious, actually. What type of hall has windows anyways? Also, during Monokuma's speech, didn't you notice the cameras appearing on the stage?" Koh tilted his head in questioning manner.

"Actually, you're right! I did notice something move at the corner of my eye, but I was really focused on Monokuma." Minato spoke up with a brighter look on his face.

"Huh, I didn't notice any of that." Ryota faced me. "Did you notice any of this, Hana?" Ryota asked.

"Nope." I said nonchalantly.

Petra walk in front of the group and faced us. "Regardless, we should focus on finding our way out of here."

Koh walk up to Petra and stand next to her. "Good point. I suggest we split up. We could cover more ground that way."

Petra nodded. "I approve." She faced us. "Any objections?"

Ryota shyly raised his hand. "I don't really have an objection but I do have a worry." We faced him. "What about Mazuri?"

"What about her?" I cocked my head to the side, puzzled on what he is trying to say.

"You guys heard what she said back there, she has no problem killing us to get out of here." I notice some beads of sweat on Ryota's forehead. This really must be worrying him. "What if she's planning on killing one of us right now?"

Ted placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's no way she would do that. You're just nervous about the situation we are in. No one here would kill each other." He faced us. "Right guys?"

I nodded in affirmation. "Yup, you betcha." I walk to Ryota, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. "We will find the way out, so don't worry."

He smiled at me. "Okay. Thanks guys."

"Are you guys done with your little heart to heart?" Isaac push his glasses up. "Good. I'm going to check the west side of this place. Remember, we will meet up tomorrow morning with our findings." Wow, isn't he the nicest guy?

Xiang began walking down the east corridor. "I'm checking the east side. If you guys wanna come along, I'm not stopping you."

"Wait, hold up." Ryota said, running towards Xiang. Minato sighed and followed after them.

"I'm going to check the northern section." Hokuto place his hand in front of Yukira. "Come on Yukira."

Yukira smiled awkwardly and took a step back. Uh oh, this doesn't seem good. "Actually, Hokuto, I'd rather search the eastern section with Isaac."

I saw Hokuto flinch back a bit, but that lasted a less than a second. It was pretty obvious that Hokuto had a soft spot for Yukira, maybe they already knew each other? Or maybe Yukira reminded him of someone he knew... Either way, it's pretty harsh being rejected by someone you like. Not that I'd know anything about that of course, people fall all over me.

Hokuto retracted his hand. "I, understand. Good luck in your search." Poor guy.

She smiled and nodded at him. "You too." Yukira turned and briskly walked the hall Isaac went in.

Once Yukira left, Ted followed after her. "I'll make sure she's safe Hokuto. See ya." He said to him as he left.

Feeling bad for Hokuto, I decided to give him company. Petra, Tio, and Koh also decided to come with. Hokuto and Petra looked focus on the task at hand. I hope he is doing okay. I start hearing a voice in my left ear. Oh shit, that's right, Koh is talking to me.

"Sorry, what was that?"

I saw the disappointment in Koh's face. "You weren't listening." Now I feel really bad... Hey, is this how Isaac feels? Whoa, what's with me being completely savage recently? Must be the absolute sass and sarcasm from this group that's affecting me.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something." I sheepishly smiled

"Hokuto right?" Koh tilted his head.

I faced him with an raised eyebrow. "How'd you know?"

Koh shrugged. "It's quite obvious, actually. You saw how he reacted with Yukira said no."

"Yeah, he looked like he really wanted to be with her." Wait a sec. Is that the second time he said, 'It's quite obvious, actually'? I smirked at him. "Is that going to be your catchphrase?"

"It's quite obvious, actually." He finished with a smirk directed at me.

He's pretty cool for one of the nerds, not a total asshole. We could be friends, and that's definitely beneficial towards me. He's not as rude as the other nerds- I mean geniuses here.

"If you two are finished." Koh and I faced Petra. "We have an important mission to complete. So I suggest that you two pull your weight." Petra points to the hallway to our left. "I shall start my search here. Please have something to contribute by tomorrow morning." She bowed. "Till then." She left.

Sometimes I wonder why I don't stand up with Mazuri when Petra acts like this. I sighed. "Always so merciless." I point my thumb to the right hall. "I'll check here. See you two tomorrow."

"Bye Hana." Koh gave me short wave goodbye before continuing forward with Hokuto.

Let's hope I find the exit to this place. Ha, isn't that a joke? I'm really bad at looking for things, actually. Like that one time my sister asked me for a bag of chips and I couldn't find it when it was right in front of me- Tio is probably the most likely find an exit around here. I would probably find something useless, ugh. This is really starting to get to me. This isn't even like me, how stupid. I just want to get out of this damn place!

"**Upupu. It seems you're feeling despair already. If it takes this much to make you feel despair, I can't wait for one of you to die."**

I turn to my left to see Atsuko with Monokuma on her head. It's laughing at me. Fucking asshole. Wait, Atsuko?! Why is she here, and why is Monokuma with her?

"Atsuko, what are you doing here?! I thought you were with Kiyomi?"

She giggled. "I got bored, and…" She looked up at Monokuma. "He said he'd help me find Mazuri!"

This is pretty ridiculous, even by my standards. And you know when Hana Inoue thinks something is ridiculous, it's gotta be pretty insane. That... whatever the hell that bear thing was... IT kidnapped us and is trying to make us _kill _each other! That's absolutely insane! There's no reason for this dumb bear to help us. Unless, its got an alternative motive.

"Atsuko, you shouldn't trust that thing." I bit my lip nervously.

She laughed. "You still fretting over what he said in the gym?" She starts to laugh again, wiping away a tear. "It was a joke." She looked up at Monokuma again. "A really good joke. We should trade jokes sometimes Kuma."

"**Honestly, I've never met someone like her." **Monokuma starts move its paw in a circular formation on the side of his head. **"I think she's got a screw loose or something. In her head."**

"Hahaha, thanks!" Atsuko faced me. "See Hana, he's just joking."

Is she playing dumb? Or is she just in deep denial? "Atsuko, please listen to me."

"Sorry no can do! I gotta find Mazuri." Suddenly, she sprinted down the hall. Monokuma was helplessly clinging onto her head as she sped off, "BYE HANA!"

Atsuko. Maybe I should have just done her a favor and ripped that goddamn bear off her head. But then I would've gotten punished since it's against the rules. I don't exactly want to know what type of sick punishments that bear has in store for us. Damn it. I hope you are going to be okay, Atsuko. I promise you, I will find the way out of here for you and make sure you tell me all the jokes you want when this is over.

I continue to walk in the hallways for an exit. I can't find one. Are we really trap in here? No, there's gotta be a way out.

Mazuri words flashed in my mind. "Isn't it easier to just kill?"

I shake my head at the thought. Was I just considering... No, no, no. I will not resort to that. Never. I will find a way out of here, if I don't, surely the others will. And when this is over, I will just laugh about this with them. Please find the way out guys cause I don't think I will. I'm brash and impulsive, and I'm not the smartest crayon in the box. I know that if we don't get out soon... I might do something completely out of line.

_DeeDum, DeeDeeDeeDum, DumDumDeeDum_

Huh, whats that? Sounds like arcade music. Oh man, is there an arcade here!? If there is one, being trapped here won't be _as _bad. I ran to where the music is coming from. I hope there's a fighting game. I love me some fighting games. Although I will admit that I'm not too good at them, I've gotten mediocre from the sheer amount of times I've played games. I'm good at those strategy games though, like Ace Attorney and Fire Emblem. Wait... is Ace Attorney strategy? More like bullshit powers. Agh, those sort of skills are completely useless in life! Uh, though I guess being good at fighting games doesn't make me any better. I hope this arcade has BlazBlue, oh oh oh, or better yet, Skullgirls. I fucking love Skullgirls. There's gotta be someone in this place who wants to play with me!

In my excitement, I ran towards the music. Unfortunately, I barely saw Yukira standing in front of an odd machine and just narrowly dodged her before completely toppling over. She was shaken out of her trance, and looked at me before laughing and helping me up.

"Hana! What are you doing on the ground like that?" Yukira asked with a hint of amusement on her lips.

"I dunno... Maybe you were too busy looking at that machine to notice that I almost completely crushed you." I groaned in pain.

"Mhm! This thing is pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I don't seem to know how to get it to work." Yukira muttered, tapping her foot in thought.

"Actually, what are you doing here though? I thought you were with Isaac in the East Hall." I blinked at her.

Yukira sighed before replying, "Well, Isaac ditched me. I think Ted was looking for me, but I wandered off. Oops. So I decided to look for you and Hokuto! But this thing here has gotten me stumped!"

"Don't you want to take a break? You've traveled more than me and faster than me even though I had Petra with me. Were you at full sprint this entire time? In fact, I think I need a break." I sat myself on the floor.

"Hm, I suppose a break would be fine. At least, until I figure out what this is. Go fetch me a water, would you?" Yukira smiled at me.

"Um, sorry? But the kitchen isn't that close and I'm kind of tired... I didn't get enough sleep last night." I huffed, laying down.

"Oh! In that case, get on your hands and knees." Yukira said nonchalantly.

"Excuse me?!" I was taken aback.

"I'm going to sit on you. I can't sit on the floor." Yukira stated.

"There's a chair right there." I pointed near the door.

"Oh, oops... I keep forgetting that everyone isn't my servant. I'm really sorry, Hana." Yukira blushed in embarrassment.

"Nah, it's okay." I laughed it off, "You're not very educated in the regular life, are you?"

"Unfortunately, I am not. That is why I'm so eager to learn about more things." Yukira smiled brightly.

"While we're taking this break, do you want to have a conversation then?" I asked as politely as I could. Being in Yukira's presence is sort of odd, she's so high and mighty. At least she's nice.

"Sure!" Yukira paused, "I still don't have my glass of water though."

"Huh?" I blinked.

"Joking! Hehe, you should have seen your face!" Yukira grinned, somehow elegantly. I can't do that. How can you be immature, yet elegant? Yukira sure pulls off the unimaginable.

* * *

**Free Time with Yukira?**

**Yes **or No?

* * *

Hana: Well I would start off a conversations with an Ultimate by asking how they got their talent... but you were born into a rich family, right?

Yukira: Yes, that is correct. I am the only daughter of the Kisaragi family.

Hana: The only daughter? Hm, I suppose I should have known that. I didn't really keep up on your family history, sorry. But why didn't your parents try to keep having kids? Like a son at least or something to take charge of the family?

Yukira: Hana... I'm going to take over the family.

Hana: Oh! Sorry, I was going all manga on you all of a sudden.

Yukira: Mhm, real life isn't a manga, now is it? I read up on manga before coming to Hope's Peak to see if it was what life was like... but it was awfully unrealistic. Amusing, though. A nice alternative to the reading I usually do.

Hana: Manga is usually a lot more crazy than real life, but our situation is quite a predicament as well. And you like reading a lot, do you?

Yukira: I do. To be honest... I didn't socialize much due to being trapped in the mansion all the time. I had a lot of time on my hands, such as reading, writing, and playing the piano. I'm a fan of Miki's, actually.

Hana: Oh? We share quite a few interests.

Yukira: So you like reading, writing, and playing piano? You don't strike me that way. Oh! No offense, though.

Hana: Yeah, well they're not that uncommon of interests. They relax people. Plus, I can't always be the People Master. I need to rest from socializing every once in a while.

Yukira: People Master? Hm... you're not as extroverted as I thought.

Hana: Pffft, I am the People Master. People love me! And yeah, I get that a lot.

Yukira: You are quite... the odd one. Making jokes like you have an ego problem... usually that would not amuse me as it is unrefined. You make it easygoing somehow.

Hana: I try to make people smile, you know. I can reuse jokes on you! You don't know many jokes, do you?

Yukira: No, I can't say I do.

Hana: Oh, that's a shame... I'm sorry. Being indoors all day is fun, but not all of your life.

Yukira: That's why I'm trying to understand the outside world more! The only time I would be outside was the very times I got out with the family's car. I tried volunteering to guest speak at schools, but that wasn't enough exposure.

Hana: So you must be really happy that you're at Hope's Peak, right? I feel sorry for you to be in this situation, then...

Yukira: It was quite disappointing, yes. But with my knack of finding out new things, I am certain we will find a way out.

Hana: ... Of course!

Yukira: Do not fret, everything will be okay.

Hana: You're a really good leader despite being younger than me. You're certainly fit for the title Ultimate Aristocrat.

Yukira: Oh! Thank... Thank you Hana. Although our situation is unfortunate... I'm still glad that I'm here.

Hana: Huh, really?

Yukira: Yes. I'm glad I met you all. You're all very kind to me, and I appreciate it.

Hana: _I hope nobody tries to kill her... She's too precious._

Hana: I'm glad you're happy, Yukira. When we make it back to Hope's Peak, I'll be glad to be your classmate.

Yukira: I'm looking forward to it as well!

Hana: Oh! And I think you mentioned something about wanting to get to know the other students better, right?

Yukira: Did I? Well, you're certainly not wrong.

Hana: Here, take this.

Yukira: What is this?

Hana: My dance instructor was a bit of a history nut. She always went on and on about the history of dance, and I thought you might be interested in this book that she wrote about the history of dance. Despite being a bit weird, she's a great writer and got me into writing as well.

Yukira: Ah, thank you. Maybe I could see your writings as well?

Hana: Maybe. Once we get out. Ah, anyways, our break should be over now. Let's get back to that machine, shall we?

Yukira: Ah, ah. Not so fast. You don't seriously expect me to get a gift without handing one out, do you? Do you think so lowly of me?

Hana: Of course not.

Yukira: Here, this is nothing special... but I made it myself. Girls typically share friendship bracelets with those close to them, right?

Hana: Oh... it's amazing. Thank you Yukira. And yes, that's right.

Yukira: Well, as my first friend... I want you to have it.

* * *

_Yukira is an extremely elegant woman. Despite being younger than me, I really look up to her. She's smart, elegant, and curious. Definitely someone that you'd want to protect, and I understand why Hokuto has taken a liking to her. He seems like the type to protect despite being a hitman. She's so sweet and I'm glad that I met her despite this odd predicament. She likes simple things like reading, writing, and playing piano. Unfortunately, she was locked up in her mansion for most of her life. Like the classy and amazing woman she is, she volunteered to speak at schools. She's certainly impressive._

**Yukira Kisaragi : Level 1 Social Link**

_Item Get!: A friendship bracelet. Isn't it just precious? I'm glad that she could make more friends._

* * *

"**Monomono Machine! Where everything cost a KumaBuck!" **The machine in front of me said. Based on the sound of the music it's playing, I guess I won't be playing Skullgirls anytime soon.

I hanged my head and sighed. "I really wanted to play Skullgirls too." I walked up to the machine to get a closer look. What the hell is a KumaBuck? I shrugged and reach in my back pocket for my wallet. Yes I still have it. I love my wallet, okay? I bet if that bear tried to take it from me when I was asleep, I would've have woken up instantly. Nobody steals money from me- oh what the fuck.

"Tio! Where is my wallet, you asshole?! Give it back!" I shouted although the only one in the room other than me was Yukira.

"Huh, what's wrong? Tio isn't even here." Yukira inquired.

I sighed, "Yeah... he must have stole my wallet."

"Hah! I can't believe it took you so long to realize it. You're kind of slow. Although... I took you as the greedy type who loves their wallet." Tio appeared at the door, holding my wallet in his hand.

"Hey, don't be rude! Now give it back." I grabbed for my wallet.

Tio easily dodged my clumsy attempt to retrieve my wallet, "Hah! This is kind of fun. Now let's see how much money you have."

Ignoring my constant grabs for my wallet, Tio opened it and looked unimpressed. He messily shoved through my wallet, as if he were searching for a hidden compartment. After a few moments of multi-tasking of fending me off and scavenging my poor wallet, he pulled out the single one dollar bill I had.

"What the fuck is this? You've got this really nice black leather wallet with a gold chain and zipper... and you've only got a buck inside?" Tio laughed in a mocking way.

"Shut up!" I shouted, grabbing the forgotten wallet.

Tio made a 'making it rain' pose with the single bill and swiped it to the floor. Hastily, I snatched it up and glared at the smuggler. How rude! I'm not poor, okay? Okay, so maybe I don't keep the most money in my wallet, but whatever. I still have a buck, and that's more than most people here. At the time being, at least.

"You can't just take my things!" I scolded, while shoving the bill into the slot of the odd machine.

"**Yuck! Come back when you got really money kid!"** Its lights turned off. I guess it shut down.

"Crap! How do I turn this thing back on?" I angrily hit the machine.

"Huh, looks like something popped up. So violence and being immature _does _solve things. Nice going, Hana. Fucking sweet." Tio snickered.

"Wow. Thanks." I rolled my eyes at him, "So apparently this red button popped up. But red buttons are always bad, so don't touch-"

I was cut off as Yukira reached over and pressed the button, "Oops."

"Yukira! Don't you know that red buttons are always bad?" I panicked a bit, raising my voice.

She seemed to shrink a bit, "No... I didn't..."

Flinching, I lowered my voice, "I'm sorry. Just don't get us into trouble, alright? Nothing seems to have happened so..."

"Speak for yourself! What the fuck did you, bitch? Ugh, I am not dying because this stupid girl made a mistake!" Tio practically roared.

"Cursing is really unrefined, Tio." Yukira seemed unaffected.

"You're... odd. Fucking weird as shit." Tio sighed.

"Oh, do you want me to act more normal? Like you? Ahem... let's see now... Wassup bro?" Yukira closed her eyes before opening them and making weird 'gang signs' with her hands, "Bruh you better give up your money before imma bout to shank you."

"Y... Yukira?!" Hokuto looked absolutely shocked as he stood at the door's entrance.

"LMAONADE." I shouted while laughing.

"Huh? Hokuto! So did I do good? Why are Tio and Hana laughing like crazy?" Yukira tilted her head in confusion.

"Er- Don't do that again. It doesn't... fit your elegance." Hokuto seemed to be calming down, but he was still blinking in shock.

"Hm, you're right. I don't want to be like Tio anyways." Yukira nodded.

"Wait.. wasn't there something we were doing?" I asked, forgetting what had happened due to that distraction.

Suddenly, the machine sprang to life with a huge array of colors. The lights in the room shut off, and Yukira let out a tiny yelp. I may have let out a scream. Just maybe. The machine started glowing like a disco ball and shined garish lights around the now darkened room while letting out a sound that sounded a lot like... a slot machine in use. And all of a sudden...

**"Upupupu! Ladies and gentlemen, step right up, step right up!"** Monokuma, dressed all fancy, announced loudly.

"To what?" Hokuto asked, looking quite tense.

**"There is no need to be so scared, Hitman! It's the... MONOMONO MACHINE! Who wants to step up and give it a whirl?"** Monokuma cackled.

Instantly, everyone stepped back so it looked like I had stepped forward. Thanks, fam.

**"And it looks like we have a volunteer! Go on, give it a shoooooot!"** Monokuma shouted.

"Could you stop yelling?" Tio asked, covering his ears.

**"Upupupu! Shut up! Just watch."** Monokuma shoved his paw into Tio's face, who let out a muffled yell.

"Please place your e-Handbook here." An automated voice sounded from the machine.

"Uhm, okay." I muttered before fumbling around my backpack for my e-Handbook.

"Hey! Where the hell did it go?" I shouted in anger.

"Here ya go, it was the only other thing I could really take from you. You were carrying a huge ass encyclopedia, and I don't want that." Tio tossed my e-Handbook to me.

"Thanks-" I was startled when someone shouted all of a sudden.

"Tio! Do you... know what you've done? Oh dear... I couldn't get to you in time!" Petra had screeched, with a look of terror on her face.

"Huh? What? What do you mean you couldn't get to me in time?" Tio looked shocked.

"You broke the rules you dunce! And I thought me telling you to put yourself in line would help you, but look what you did! Now you'll have to face punishment!" Petra shouted, obviously agitated. However... she looked like she would cry at any moment.

"Petra... calm down, are you alright?" I patted her gently on the shoulder.

"No! You'll be... punished... For loaning your e-Handbook!" Petra cried out in frustration.

**"Upupupupu! Do I get to serve an early punishment?"** Monokuma laughed eagerly.

"Hm... I'd hate to break your bubble, but Hana didn't loan out her e-Handbook. Tio stole it. That's not against the rules." Yukira piped up.

**"Aww. Shucks, you're right. Carry on then, students."** Monokuma sulked, **"Before I leave, here you go Hana! You need some sort of MonoCash to use the machine. And I present to you! Tah dah! Twelve MonoCoins! Yes, I am the very generous Headmaster Monokuma." **

"You know, usually stealing is a crime." I muttered bitterly under my breath.

"Okay, just get a move on. See what the machine does!" Yukira peered closely at the weird machine.

"Why do I have to do it? The bear is gone." I complained, but still got out my e-Handbook.

"Hey, I'm curious, alright? Plus, you're the one who has the e-Handbook out and the MonoCoins. Come on, just give it a whirl!" Yukira reasoned.

"You know, curiosity killed the cat." I scolded before placing my e-Handbook to the machine and inserting a MonoCoin

The machine whirled for a good few seconds while emitted odd elevator-like music. It came to an abrupt stop and out popped an item. It seemed to me that it was just a plain pair of boxing gloves. Nothing really stood out to me about them, they kinda just looked normal to me.

"But satisfaction brought it back~!" Yukira seemed to beam in excitement, "What are those, anyways?"

"Hey," Tio's eyes gleamed, "Do you think it'd sell for a pretty penny?"

"You wish! I'm not letting you take these. ESPECIALLY if I can get some money for it." I protectively clutched the gloves to my chest.

"Fine, whatever. I can just get some cool things myself. You're quite greedy, you know that? It's not attractive." Tio rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, like I care. Money over love any day!" I shouted.

"Hana..." Yukira looked a bit disappointed, "That's kind of sad. Are you going to be one of those old cat ladies when you grow up? What a shame."

"Wha-? I won't be a cat lady! And I am grown up!" I defended myself as Tio died in the corner with laughter.

"Y-You sure about that? Oh my god..." Tio was still shaking as he laughed.

"You guys... Had me so worried and now you are all acting so stupid! Why do I even try? Hurry it up, I expect you all to have information tomorrow morning!" Petra stomped her foot and left.

"Oh fuck, I gotta go, like now. I'll be back for you, precious!" I panicked, and raced for the door.

"Damn, didn't know you already loved me. I get that a lot." Tio smirked.

"Wasn't talking to you. I was talking to my new best friend. The thing that's gonna get me money. ME AND YOU, MONOMONO MACHINE." I blew a kiss and left.

"What's so great about money anyways?" Mazuri heard my little outburst and had a look of boredom on her face. Hey, I found her! And Atsuko was no where in sight... of course the girl hadn't found Mazuri.

"Well since you have so much, you wouldn't really know what it's like to not have what you want, would you?" I asked a bit rudely, even for me. Hey! I'm bitter, okay?

Mazuri didn't even seem to be shocked, even though I kind of winced at how harsh I had been. Huh, maybe she can take criticism really well- That's surprising, considering she hates when Petra tells her what to do. In fact, she didn't even seem fazed. She didn't even look at me-

"Got it!" Mazuri conjured a deck of cards, "Pick one!"

"Did you... hear what I said?" I tentatively asked.

"Hm? What was that? Just pick a card, okay?" Mazuri didn't seem interested in what I had to say.

"Sure..." I reluctantly said before pulling a card from her hands.

Before I could even put down my card, Mazuri announced, "Queen of Hearts!"

"Well, heh, that's what they call me." I nodded with a stupid look on my face.

"No, you idiot! Your card." Mazuri flicked her wrist and my card landed on the floor, the Queen of Hearts.

"Wow! Do it again!" Yukira and I were completely shocked.

"You guys... get excited easily. That was just a simple trick. Maybe later." Mazuri put her hands up like she was calming down a roaring crowd for her tricks.

"You have quite the ego, don't you?" Miki tapped her foot, revealing that she had been there the entire time. Where are these people coming from- Holy shit everyone is just appearing.

"Well-" I started to say, but she cut me off.

"Shut it, Hana! You're even worse. You've got the ego of a trumpet player!" Miki scoffed as if she were looking down at me, even though I was a good four inches taller than her.

"H-How... could... you say that to me." I gasped dramatically and pretended like I had been shot.

"Hey! You can't just make accusations like that!" Mika shouted in horror.

"What's the big deal with trumpet players?" Yukira asked curiously.

"Are you kidding me? They are the ego of the entire music world!" Miki shook her head.

"I'm sure you don't need to be so harsh." Yukira laughed awkwardly.

"Eh, maybe I'm too harsh, but that's how I am." Miki shrugged.

"Funny story-" I started to say.

"You used to play trumpet." Minato piped in. Seriously! Where are all these people coming from? Damn, I gotta get a move on before Petra catches us!

"Of course she did." Miki sighed in disappointment.

"Oh dear..." Mika sighed as well, as if she expected a lot from me and I disappointed her.

"What? It's not that bad! I don't play it anymore, anyways..." I frowned in defeat.

"Heh. What do you know about music?" Miki asked as if I would know nothing.

"I know a lot more than you think!" I huffed.

* * *

**Free Time with Miki?**

**Yes **or No?

* * *

Miki: Oh yeah? What exactly do you know about music?

Minato: It's not very good to assume things about people if you don't know much about them...

Hana: Shhh! Minato, don't steal my thunder, now.

Minato: Got it.

Hana: I'll have you know that I've performed at Carnegie Hall.

Miki: No... No way! What the hell do you play?

Hana: I'm a french horn player. In fact, I play piano okay too. Not at your level of course, but good enough so you shouldn't mock me.

Miki: Heh. Of course I'm better than you. You know what, you aren't so bad.

Hana: Why didn't you think I was into music anyways? I'm a choreographer. I dance with music. It's not a stretch that I actually can play music myself you know.

Miki: You can't be that good... How do you manage to do so much?

Hana: Okay... So maybe I lied about Carnegie Hall. But I'm not bad, trust me. I... may have pulled all nighters to work for all I have accomplished, but that's what you have to do when you're born a loser.

Miki: Born a loser? Please. I guess I kind of feel bad for making fun of you now.

Hana: Nah, that's alright. But enough about me, what about you?

Miki: What do you mean?

Hana: Well I dunno. Something interesting about you. How did you get into piano playing and the Ultimate Pianist title?

Miki: My family is really into music. I've been into it since I've been really little. In fact, I've got a sister who I really adore who is really great in music too.

Hana: -flinches-

Miki: What's wrong?

Hana: Oh... er, nothing. That's pretty interesting!

Miki: There's something up.

Hana: Nope. Nothing's wrong. Wow! I bet you're really great then, huh? Maybe you should play for me one day.

Miki: Yeah! You'll be blown away, trust me.

Hana: -laughs awkwardly-

Hana: I bet I will.

Miki: -fidgets with her necklace-

Hana: Huh? What's that? It's a lovely necklace.

Miki: Oh. It's nothing special. My friend gave it to me.

Hana: Nothing special? But it's from your friend!

Miki: Yeah. A no good friend who stopped talking to me. Friends leave you once you get attached anyways, it's bullshit.

Hana: Oh? Mika seems to like you plenty, and she's super sweet.

Miki: Yeah, whatever. It's... sad when you get attached. I don't want to go through that again.

Hana: I'm... really sorry to hear that.

Miki: Nah, it's fine. You know what? You're not even as bad as I thought.

Hana: Um, thanks?

Miki: Well, I gotta go before Petra comes.

Hana: I hear you. Wait...

Miki: Hm?

Hana: I bet I have something for you...

Hana: -reaches into her backpack-

Miki: Oh, that's alright. I don't need any gifts.

Hana: Oh wow, I forgot that this was here!

Hana: -pulls out a set of necklaces that has one with a bass clef and one with a treble clef, and they come together in a heart-

Miki: It's... lovely!

Hana: Here, you can take one. I was going to give it to my friend who plays trombone because I'm treble and she's bass, and I was gonna miss her when I left for Hope's Peak Academy... but I totally forgot to give it to her! But... which one would you be? Piano has both clefs. You know what? You can take both!

Miki: No... if it's for another friend, I really shouldn't take it. Pffft, and you seriously are treble. (trouble)

Hana: No, go on! I insist. And hey!

Miki: You... You're so sweet to me even though I'm really mean to you. Why?

Hana: I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. You're a sweet girl.

Miki: T-Thanks. But... I won't take both. I can just take the bass clef. I want you to keep the treble clef one.

* * *

_Miki relates to me... a lot in a way. She's a sweet girl on the inside despite being really rude at first. It seems like she has a sweet family and all that encourages her to do well in music. She has a sister that she adores, isn't that adorable? She's pretty rude and standoffish to perhaps prevent her from getting close to anyone, but she's warming up to me. She is used to people leaving her, and doesn't trust as easily anymore._

**Miki Hinamori : Level 1 Social Link**

_Item Get!: Well, not really. I just really got my treble clef necklace back. Oops, I have to remember to buy another set for my friend.  
_

* * *

"You should probably get going. Petra will have a fit if you don't find anything." Miki ushered me towards another room.

"But I don't wannaaaaa." I whined.

"Ugh, fine. I'll save your ass. I don't really want to talk to anyone else, so I'll go find something for you to talk about at tomorrow's meeting. Be grateful that I like you, Hana." Miki groaned before stalking off.

"Sweet." I smirked.

"Aw, lucky! I want someone to do that for me. Hey Minato, you don't really want to talk to anyone either, right? Why don't you go find things out for me? Pretty please?" Ryota begged with puppy dog eyes.

"Are you serious? You're kidding me... right?" Minato raised an eyebrow.

"..." Ryota continued looking at Minato like a kicked puppy.

"It really doesn't look like he's gonna budge any time soon..." I informed Minato.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Have fun being lazy." Minato rolled his eyes.

"Ayyyy! I'm gonna go get some prizes from that MonoMono thingy!" Ryota beamed and ran off.

"Hey! Not my precious, I get to go first!" I shouted and ran after him.

* * *

**BING BING BING**

"This thing is absolutely amazing... I need to find myself some MonoCoins." Ryota's mouth was gaping with awe.

"Pretty sweet, huh? Anyways, move it! It's my turn. You've gotten plenty of prizes." I bumped Ryota over with my hip.

**BING BING BING**

* * *

_Item Get!: A joke book. It seems to be for little kids, but the jokes in it are actually pretty good. It has stupid drawings of things that relate to the jokes, but it's oddly refreshing. It's pretty cute, honestly._

_Item Get!: A puzzle book. Wow, why are there books in this machine anyways? It's a simple book with a few complicated puzzles. If I sat down for a while, I still might not understand them. Still, they'd be a good way to pass time if I were bored._

_Item Get!: A recipe and medicine book. More books. What is with this, anyways? And who puts recipes with medicine? Yeah, they aren't too far off, but they aren't exactly the same either. The recipes are simple enough, but they're homemade classics. Maybe I should get someone to cook for me or something. The medicine is pretty basic stuff too. Just curing basic illnesses and such._

_Item Get!: A knife. What the hell. Okay, I'm sorry that I complained about books. This is pretty dangerous, and it really it concerning that any student can get this for free... But if I remember correctly, there were knives in the kitchen anyways. It's just a regular ballistic knife. There isn't anything really important to note about it._

_Item Get!: A charm bracelet. It actually doesn't look that cheap, nor does it look like you could find it just anywhere. It's delicately crafted and looks very nice. It would be expensive, heh, but I got it for free! Sweet, I could totally sell this to some sucker._

_Item Get!: A plain notebook. There's nothing even written inside, but it has a fancy cover with a nice lock. It's nicer than something you'd just get at the store, but it's not really that great either. It has a handy little handle on the top (haha didja see what I did there I'm so funny) that can fit a pencil or pen. Literally that's the most interesting I can make it seem._

_Item Get!: An encyclopedia on the history of dance. I really should be happy to get this, except I'm a bad person and could care less. Maybe someone here is interested in what I have to do. Probably not. I'm the last person who should get this. I know enough about dance anyways, despite seeming to be stupid my teachers always went on and on about it._

_Item Get!: A cordless microphone. It's basically just a toy, actually. But maybe someone can get it to work, I dunno man. I've never been the best at technology. It's sleek and looks pretty cool. The latest model, probably. I feel like a rockstar just holding on to this thing. Heh, I should be famous. Oh wait, I am. Cool Hana strikes again._

_Item Get!: A deck of cards. What the heck. These aren't even playing cards. They're just all the Queen of Hearts... Huh. That's kinda suspicious ISN'T IT? I have no use for these, but I swear if Mazuri has this deck... I will be so angry! These are pretty neat, though._

_Item Get!: A wad of cash! SWEET HOLY SHIT. Wait- This is fake, ugh. It just looks real, but I'm the master. Okay, so maybe I held it up to the light to see if it was see through, but it's fake alright? Maybe I should prank someone with this stuff. Heh._

_Item Get!: A silver hairpin that looks super sweet. I could sell this for a pretty penny. I might actually keep it, it'd go nice with my hair. It's something a rich person would wear, haha! I could totally sneak into rich society wearing this baby. My goal in life._

_Item Get!: A romantic novel. What the hell is this. It's written by a... Touko Fukawa? I've heard of her. I like writing a lot, but romance isn't exactly my forte. I've read a bit of this junk, and I'm sorry Fukawa... but you've got quite the active imagination there._

* * *

"Whoa, that's quite a lot of stuff you have there. Let me go again!" Ryota pushed me over.

"Hey, I'm still using that thing! I got some junk, can't I get some better things?" I groaned at my fall.

**BEEP BEEP! Sorry, the MonoMono Machine is currently out of service. Please wait for tomorrow before you use it again.**

"Did you see what you did Hana? Now you used up all the spins! And not everyone had a shot at it, you know." Ryota huffed at me.

"Sorry! I didn't know that it was going to run out of spins. Here, I'll make it up to you." I offered a sheepish smile.

"Oh yeah, how, exactly?" Ryota stared at me intently.

"You get to hang out with yours truly!" I smiled, giving him a jazz hands to brighten the mood.

"Eh, I'm bored. But that's not exactly a prize." Ryota muttered before laughing heartily.

* * *

**Free Time with Ryota?:**

**Yes **or No?

* * *

Ryota: So are you going to give me one of your prizes or not?

Hana: Calm down! I said your prize is getting to talk to me, isn't that good enough?

Ryota: Hah! As if. I saw you give a necklace to Miki. You've got something for me too, right?

Hana: Not yet! Don't be so impatient. First, let me get to know you.

Ryota: What do you need to know, then? Just hurry it up already. Everyone wants to know about me. I should just have write an autobiography at this point. It's exhausting being this famous.

Hana: Modest much? Anyways, how'd you become an actor anyways?

Ryota: Ugh... Boooring! I've heard that you've got some things to hide! Why don't we talk about you?

Hana: Me? Boring old Hana? I've got nothing to hide, buster. And I'm interested in your story!

Ryota: Oh yeah, then how did you become a dancer slash choreographer?

Hana: I've told you that I'm boring. It's just because I like music and the beat of dance and how it's so elegant and stuff. I've always thought that dancing and making up dance steps was super cool. And I worked hard at it. It's nothing special, really.

Ryota: Well it doesn't seem like you're lying. I guess Miki is just superstitious or something.

Hana: You know her. Always being the first to accuse me of something.

Ryota: Hah! You're right.

Hana: Hey... Aren't you quite easygoing and... funny for an actor?

Ryota: What's wrong with that? Are you saying that actors can't be funny?

Hana: Nope. Just from my experience... managers for acting can really beat down on you.

Ryota: Well you're not wrong about that.

Hana: So how do you do it? Keeping so positive all the time?

Ryota: I actually don't really know the answer to that. I like making people laugh. It's fun, and I'm good at it. Being an actor, I have to be good at anything. And comedy is actually pretty hard, but I manage to wing it. I think that's why I do so good in show biz. Everyone likes a good laugh, right?

Hana: So then, let's hear a joke.

Ryota: Hm... Let's see now. Out of ten puns, how many puns won?

Hana: A joke about puns? Or perhaps a pun on puns? Let's hear how good this is. I'll amuse you, how many puns did win?

Ryota: No pun in ten did.

Hana: Pfffft... That's quite good. But... I've seen that somewhere before. Wait!

Ryota: In that little joke book you just got from the Monomono Machine?

Hana: That's right! How did you know that?

Ryota: I've had that book since I was a kid. It's pretty good, despite being aimed for children.

Hana: Sweet. It'll be nice to hang onto this.

Ryota: Weren't you going to give me a gift, actually?

Hana: Oh yeah! Calm yourself, buddy. I've got something for you.

Hana: -reaches into her bag-

Ryota: Well, what is it? It's bad to keep an idol like me waiting!

Hana: Here, a cordless microphone.

Ryota: Neat! How did you know I wanted one of these?

Hana: You're... kinda loud. I already regret everything. BUT! Actors like the feel of performing, right? I know I do. When I held that microphone, I felt like I was worth a billion bucks. Here, you should take it. Even though your ego is enormous, but hey, I'll just feed it for now.

Ryota: Nice. Thanks, speaking to you was pretty cool, and this mic is sick!

Hana: Yeah, yeah. Enjoy it until you break it, buddy.

Ryota: Here ya go.

Hana: Hmm, what's this?

Ryota: It's my signature.

Hana: What the fuck. Narcissistic, much?

Ryota: Whoa, a bit harsh there, aren't we?

Hana: Don't worry! I'm just joking, buddy. But honestly? Who said I wanted your autograph. Come on, don't be so arrogant.

Ryota: Well since SOMEBODY broke the Monomono Machine, I don't exactly have much to give out, now do I? Now take it and leave!

* * *

_Honestly, I didn't really learn much about Ryota. He likes performing and all, plus he's a super chill guy. He's pretty great. Not a modest one this one, but he states what he thinks so that's cool by me. He got into acting simply for the joy of making others smile at his performances, I think. Maybe there's more to it, maybe not. But that's really sweet. He seems to really like the comedy portion of acting, so he should probably hang out with Atsuko or Mazuri... if he finds their kind of humor appealing._

**Ryota Morimoto : Level 1 Social Link**

_Item Get!: Ryota's Signature. Wow, this is all I've ever wanted in my life. Whew. I am so gosh darn didly glad that I got a piece of paper with his name on it. Hah, jokes on him, he has a ton of crazy fangirls. I could sell this... Goddamn, I need to stop thinking about money._

* * *

**BING BONG BING BONG**

**Attention, students! The time is now 10 pm. Night time is now in action, the water has been shut off and some rooms are locked. Get to sleep you naughty kids!**

Shit, it's that late already. I guess I figured out why tomorrow. Crap, what am I going to do at tomorrow's meeting, I only find that stupid machine and nothing else. Oh man, I don't even know how to get back. What am I going to do? Wait, maybe. I took out my handbook. I start looking through it. Yes! It has a map. I'm such a genius.

I use the map on my handbook to guide myself back to my room. On the map, there are little faces of us on 16 rooms near where we started. I at least hope they are our rooms, if not, this will be awkward.

After navigating the dark fake school of Hope's Peak Academy, I finally made it to my room. Now I have another problem. How am I going to get in? I expect my handbook. If it has a map, maybe it's a key too. I shrugged, it's worth a shot. I swipe my handbook in front of the lock, and it made a click noise. It worked! Hana, you're on a roll today.

I walk inside my room and plop down on my bed. I should go to sleep, but I wonder what else this handbook has to offer. I sit up and start sifting through the different features my handbook has to offer.

"Let's see what other cool things you have. I might be able to play Skullgirls on it." I'm start getting giddy on the thought of playing my favorite game after so long.

* * *

**(Oops I'm really sorry if you think this is another update, it's not I just edited the story so it makes more sense with help from my co-author. But I didn't think it'd be too much of a nuisance since it's only a few hours since I posted- no one will notice, right?)**

**Anyways! I would really like to thank my co-author for helping me write this, he deserves lots of praise and check him out! His penname is InariKurenai. Thanks so much for your contribution!**

**ApexUtopia: Oh really? Hmm, I was planning on taking it out, but I put back in the bold lines for you! I'm glad that I'm portraying her in the right way! Oh really? Ha, I didn't imagine her with a high pitched voice. Just an elegant one. And don't worry! Yukira is only guaranteed a Social Link since you review so often and that makes me really happy! Hokuto is a sweetie, hehe.**

**HeroinofDarkness: Hehe! Honestly, I don't know who you guys expect it to be. Who do you think will die first?**

**Otaku Eloise: Mhm, I like adding in little things. Like there might be little references that are kinda stupid, but fun. Like if you've ever played Fire Emblem Awakening, the main character Chrom tends to have a problem with ripping off his sleeves which will make a reference next chapter I believe. And this chapter I made a Persona 3 reference in LMAONADE. Oh, oops! I didn't catch that :/**

**WhiteWeasel: I don't think the first victim is very obvious yet, but I'm interested in who you guys think it'll be! Yeah, these cases will be an absolute joy to write and have you guys read! Hmm, as for your request, I will guarantee that Petra has a Social Link, but I'm debating if I have room for Xiang before the first trial. Not to worry though, he will get enough screen time! No problem!**

**Guest: Ah, this review was pretty funny to me. I guess he is, but maybe this is an alternate universe? Heh... I can't really answer this with a straight face.**

**Question: Who do you think will die first?  
**


	8. No Escape, Stupid!

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get any sleep. I had tried spraying some aromatherapy perfume in my room, but even that didn't work. All night, I tossed and turned in my bed. I was desperately trying to get some sleep so I'd be ready for what came tomorrow... but nothing was working. I was so tired, yet I couldn't get a wink of sleep. Groaning loudly, I tumbled out of my bed. I pushed the blankets off of myself from the blanket burrito I had made and stood up groggily.

"I really should just go and get something to eat. Nobody will be awake at..." I paused to look at the digital clock on the bedside table, "Four in the morning."

Immediately after I had opened my door, someone crashed into me.

"Who the heck is awake at this hour?!" I shouted hoarsely and rubbed my head.

"You are, aren't you?" Ted asked while blinking.

"Don't tell me... Are you out on a run at four AM?" I looked at the boxer incredulously.

"That's right." Ted shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh my god. I couldn't get any sleep. How do people voluntarily get up at four AM?" I groaned.

"Well... I couldn't get much sleep either. Usually I get up at six for my morning run, but I decided to start earlier today." Ted sighed, and I finally noticed the tired expression on his face.

"You too, huh? Yesterday was tough." I frowned, rubbing my cheeks to wake myself up.

"You can say that again. Anyways, since I've stopped, I should probably get a protein bar in the kitchen. Care to follow me?" Ted offered with a smile.

"Yeah, sure. I need to get some coffee anyways." I smiled back and tried to follow him as he sprints off.

Damn... This guy can run. I'd like to think I'm a pretty fast runner, and I'm not exactly slow but... What can you expect from people who wake up at six to go out for a run? I didn't even know people like this existed. If Ted looked back, first of all, he'd see me struggling to catch up, and second of all, looking at him like he was some sort of endangered species. To be fair, he kind of is.

"Coffee?" Ted smiles and hands me a cup as I'm dying. He's already been in the kitchen long enough to make me a coffee. Whew!

"Yeah... Thanks... Damn... This campus is too huge... I think... I'm dying." I breathed heavily and collapsed on the counter.

"You just have to do more exercise!" Ted raised his fist in a cheering pose.

"I'm a dancer! I do a lot of exercise! It's more like you're the special case." I retort strongly despite being halfway on the floor.

"Ah, yeah. You do more than just dance, right? I basically just train all day." Ted taps his chin thoughtfully.

"You're kidding me! I couldn't stand that... but you seem to like it plenty." I say, slowly managing to pull myself up.

"Yeah... I like training to be stronger." Ted looked away like he was in some sort of k-drama.

* * *

**Free Time with Ted?**

**Yes** or No?

* * *

Hana: So you like training a lot? That would explain the whole boxing thing, heh.

Ted: Actually, boxing is kind of boring to me.

Hana: Huh? No way! You're kidding me.

Ted: Nah, I don't particularly like it.

Hana: But... You're so good at it.

Ted: That doesn't really mean anything.

Hana: Touche.

Ted: Honestly, the only reason I'm here is because I thought boxing was boring.

Hana: How does that make any sense?

Ted: Well I was bored with my high school boxing team, so I decided to test myself. When I joined more and more competitions, I became more well known.

Hana: Oh... I see.

Ted: I trust Grace so much, and that's why I'm here in this hellhole. Not saying it's her fault though, but I'll she's definitely motivation for me to get out of here.

Hana: Grace?

Ted: My girlfriend.

Hana: Ah! What's the story between you two?

Ted: I dunno. She kept pestering me.

Hana: You're not... very romantic, are you?

Ted: Huh? Romance?

Hana: That's what I thought...

Ted: Just because she kept pestering me doesn't mean I don't love her. I love her a lot.

Ted: My first girlfriend... I miss her so much.

Hana: That's rough, buddy.

Hana: I bet she has to be really sweet to deal with you.

Ted: ... Yeah.

Hana: I was just joking! You don't need to look so down... You're a great person, you know!

Ted: Great person or not, it is pretty hard to deal with me. I was kind of aggressive when I was little.

Hana: I hear ya.

Ted: Really?

Hana: I had anger issues as a child.

Ted: I'm not quite sure if I had anger issues, but... I had a bad habit of picking fights.

Hana: That would really explain how you're so tough now. Although... I don't really like violence.

Ted: I don't either! I just want to be strong enough to protect the ones I love. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I promised Grace that I wouldn't inflict damage on anyone outside of boxing.

Hana: You're quite the noble one.

Ted: Not noble. I'm just doing what's right.

Ted: Anyways, those rich assholes deserve a hit once in a while.

Hana: -yawns-

Hana: Sorry, what was that?

Ted: Never mind that. You should go back to sleep.

Hana: Oh yeah... Sorry about that. Here, before I leave... There's something I want to give you.

Ted: Hm? What would that be?

Hana: I got these boxing gloves from the MonoMono Machine. I have no use for them, so here you go!

Ted: !

Hana: What's wrong?

Ted: These... They were sponsored by a Russian heavyweight!

Hana: Excuse me?

Ted: These gloves aren't just any old gloves. They've been taken off the market due to them being very dangerous.

Hana: wHOA MAYBE I SHOULD JUST TAKE THOSE RIGHT BACK

Hana: Actually, never mind... I trust you with them. You better not betray me.

Ted: Of course not.

Ted: I won't use these, but they're definitely appreciated. Here... take this.

Hana: What's this?

Ted: It's a special brand of protein bar. It's really good! And I'm sure it'll do you wonders since you're... kind of out of shape.

Hana: Hey! I'm not out of shape! Compared to you though, I definitely am.

Ted: Yeah, yeah. You're basically asleep while standing. Hurry on to your room before you collapse here in the kitchen. I'm not going to carry you back to your room if you fall asleep here.

Hana: Alright! See you -yawn- in the morning!

Ted: Technically, it's the morning now-

Hana: Shhhhhhhhh-

* * *

_It turns out that Ted doesn't particularly like boxing, but he trains to be stronger. To protect the ones he loves. For being kind of dense and the least romantic person out there, that's really sweet. As a kid, he was aggressive and he tended to get into fights. He's pretty strong because of that, and it was pure boredom apparently that got him here. Okay, not boredom, he was testing himself. He would've rejected the acceptance letter if it hadn't been for his girlfriend._

**Ted Sakamoto : Level 1 Social Link**

_Item Get!: A box of protein bars. Eh, I probably won't eat this entire stack, but I might have one once in a while. They're good enough, after all._

* * *

Even though Ted left me alone to let me sleep, I suddenly realized I was extremely hungry. Groaning, I turned back and continued my half-asleep trudge to the kitchen. Barely alive, I opened the double doors to the kitchen once again in the past thirty minutes only to see Isaac already inside.

"Hello Hana. I've already checked the kitchen, and there seems to be nothing important to note except that it's your everyday kitchen. Why don't you move on?" Isaac spoke the second I walked in.

"Hello to you as well. And maybe I just want to get something to eat! Wait a second, do you think we might run out of food?" I asked, putting my palm to my open mouth in shock.

"That's a negative. Monokuma appeared while I was checking the fridge, and he told me that the food would promptly be restocked once it runs out." Isaac informed me while standing at attention.

"Jeez, you really remind me of a soldier, you know that?" I sighed slowly, but offered a smile.

Isaac flinched, before instantly becoming calm again, "I was never a soldier and never will be. What are you insinuating?"

I instantly flinched as well, before stuttering out, "Oh! Sorry if I insulted you, I never meant any harm. I just... You know what, I should probably just change topics. How are you?"

"Yes, that would be preferred. Although I will admit that this encounter is quite... Awkward, I must leave on that note." Isaac briskly said, before turning around.

"Hey! You didn't answer my question! I asked you how you were. I'm trying to make friends..." I shouted, putting my hands on my hips.

"Oh, I'm doing just great! You know, being forced to kill my fellow students and all, doesn't that sound swell?" Isaac smiled with a dopey look on his face, before looking utterly unamused.

* * *

**Free Time with Isaac?**

**Yes **or No?

* * *

Hana: Okay, so maybe that wasn't the greatest question. But I genuinely want to get to know you! You're pretty interesting for a nerd.

Isaac: Interesting, huh? And from a nerd... Who is this coming from, the Queen of Interesting?

Hana: Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Nerds are cool, not saying I am one of course.

Isaac: Why do I have a feeling that isn't true?

Hana: Hey! I'm not a nerd! Anyways, I'm here to learn about you, not talk about me. What's up with you?

Isaac: Hmph. That's a good way to find out all my secrets and kill me. I don't particularly want to talk to you anyways. I simply said hello to be polite.

Hana: Be polite? That doesn't seem like you at all.

Isaac: I was trying something new. I won't try it again.

Hana: I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I simply meant that it was refreshing!

Isaac: Nice try, Inoue.

Hana: It was worth a shot. Fine, I'll try something else. How'd you become the Ultimate Philosopher anyways?

Isaac: I was gifted with lots of smarts as a child, I guess you could say. Philosophy is quite interesting, wouldn't you agree? Oh wait... Generally imbeciles such as yourself cannot grasp the true meaning of philosophy. But then again, it is always up for interpretation.

Hana: That's kind of unfair, isn't it? I... was never talented as a child. You could say I was boring. And though I don't understand it as well as you do, I will admit that there are a lot of points in philosophy that intrigue me. Not just me, anyone in general.

Isaac: Ah, this coming from the Queen of Interesting? And no. It's not unfair, how could you say that when you barely know me? You're quite the blunt one, you are. You also don't seem to think before you speak. Although... you do make a good point. Philosophy is quite interesting to everyone, though most are too ignorant to learn.

Hana: I deserve that, don't I? Yeah, I have the tendency to do that, I'm very sorry. Also, I kind of have a grudge against those who are naturally gifted. But... why isn't it unfair?

Isaac: There are some things that balance it out.

Hana: Like what?

Isaac: Well... I won't go into all the details. And actually, I wouldn't be talking to you if I found you as a threat, so I'll tell you some things. Like even though I was smart at a young age... I have leucism which also gives me an increased risk in skin cancer.

Hana: Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that. That would explain your skin tone though.

Isaac: Hm, well you're not too bad. So you know a thing or two about leucism?

Hana: Not much, actually. But I'm educated enough. My dad is a doctor, or he used to be.

Isaac: Oh? Used to be?

Hana: It's nothing special. Just when I moved to Japan... his credentials aren't as valid as they used to be and all. It's easier to be a doctor in Hong Kong, you know. He just has his Masters degree, but he needs more here in Japan.

Isaac: It seems like there is more to that story than you're letting on.

Hana: Well it seems like there's plenty that you're hiding, right?

Isaac: But it's easier to see through you. Just because your dad was previously a doctor doesn't mean that you'd know much about... well anything.

Hana: Aren't you giving me too little credit? I could know that from just studying you know. And I didn't even bring up much about leucism in the first place.

Isaac: I see.

Hana: What?

Isaac: Nothing. You're right, I guess I'm with imbeciles too much. It's been... a pleasure talking to you.

Hana: Wait! Hey! I'm getting to the bottom of your secrets!

Isaac: Do you seriously expect to get to know me in the few hours we've known each other?

Hana: Fine then. But before you go, why don't you take this?

Hana: -reaches into her bag-

Isaac: Hm? What is this?

Hana: -pulls out a huge book titled 'Encyclopedia Britannica'-

Isaac: Why... Do you have a huge book like that with you?

Hana: My dad gave it to me for my studies. But you seem to want it. I see that gleam in your eye! Here, you can take it.

Isaac: You shouldn't let up on your studies, you know.

Hana: I know you want it. But if you don't~ I guess I'll just take it back~

Isaac: Fine! I'll take it off your hands for you.

Hana: Sweet! And I'm doing _you_ a favor, remember that.

Isaac: Alright. Anyways, I'm off. Try not to dawdle in here. Here!

Isaac: -tosses a book-

Hana: -fumbles with it, before catching it-

Hana: Huh? What is this?

Isaac: Just a little book on medicine and disease.

Isaac: -leaves-

* * *

_Isaac is still as secretive as ever, and he's a tough nut to crack. I learned a few things about him, like that he was gifted at a young age to be pretty smart. It seems pretty unfair, but he was also born with leucism so you have to feel bad for the guy. Still no social skills, this one. Now that I think about it... That's all I really learned. We were pretty much holding a nice conversation the entire time. Score!_

**Isaac Tsukino : Level 1 Social Link**

_Item Get!: A booklet on medicine and disease. Nothing important to note about it, but it'll definitely be helpful if I decide to study._

* * *

I sighed as I was, once again, was alone in the room. Waddling over to the fridge, I opened the door with great interest. I was instantly greeted with the lovely sight of rows and rows of food. Food lined every single part of the fridge, from meats to vegetables, you name it! It was there! WAIT. NO. NOT EVERY FOOD WAS THERE. The first thing I think of, and I can't find it!

"Where the heck is my frozen pizza?" I groaned loudly before knocking the fridge a few inches to the side.

"Oh my god." A voice whispered behind me.

"What, who's there?" I turned around sharply. Why are so many people awake at 4 AM? I guess they couldn't sleep too... Who could blame them? I, aka the Queen of Laziness, couldn't get any sleep so all of the students are probably awake actually. I'm in that state where I'm dead tired, yet sleep just won't come.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. But... you're quite strong, aren't you?" Koh blinked at me.

"Nah, not crazy strong or anything, but I'm not frail!" I smiled proudly.

"You lugged around the huge Encyclopedia Britannia and you shoved a fridge full of food a bit to the side... Yeah, it's not crazy, but it's something. But hmm... I think the reason I'm so impressed is because you lack... intimidation." Koh tapped his chin.

"I lack intimidation...? I'll take that as a compliment, I guess." I was taken aback.

"I didn't mean it in a rude way, nor really as a compliment. You're quite tall, and now that I think about it, your physical form makes you seem like you'd be strong physically. So there's something about your personality that makes you seem like you're not a threat." Koh stated blatantly.

"Thanks on the outlook on my life, buddy."

* * *

**Free Time with Koh?**

Yes or **No?  
**

* * *

"You know what... I've been in this kitchen too long. If Petra finds out that I've just been doing unproductive things, I'm dead. And Isaac told me to move it, so I'll be going now." I said, and left the kitchen after grabbing a huge bag of chips.

Maybe I could get some sleep after socializing. Introverts need some rest after social interaction, right? Ah, who cares, I'll give it a shot. It's not like I want to talk to anyone right now; I'm practically dead on my feet. Hopefully pretending I am asleep will trick my brain into thinking I am asleep... Whoa... Isn't that weird that you have to pretend to be asleep to fall asleep? That's some major shocking news right there! Might even be philosophy! I should tell Isaac. Wait, what the hell am I thinking? Yeah... I need sleep.

* * *

"**GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING EVERYONE! The time is currently 7AM. That means it's time to wake up and smell the despair!"**

Ugh, does that thing have to be so loud? I grudgingly sit up, stretching my arms and yawning. I was never a morning person. I scratched my head in hopes to get me out of my sleepy daze. A big yawn escaped my lips. I wanted to go back to bed but we all agreed to talk about what we discovered yesterday. I hoped everyone had better luck than I did.

I got up from my bed and started my morning rituals. When I got my new pair of clothes on, I walked to the door. I took my e-handbook on the way out; I don't want to forget that. I'm pretty sure I won't get another one if I ask.

I opened up my handbook to see the map of the school; I'm still not sure my way around here. Last night, after searching around the school, I was checking out all the features of the handbook. It had some cool features in it. I can type down some notes on it if need be and it can even play music if I pay for it, with the money I don't have.

Once I found the way to the cafeteria I walked there. I'm happy that this thing has a map in it. If it wasn't for this e-handbook, I would've gotten lost on the way to my room yesterday. I walked inside the cafeteria, seeing only Petra there. I really don't do much in the morning to prepare, so I'm usually very early, unless I slept in which is always the case. Unfortunately, that stupid morning announcement woke me up and I don't get the joy of sleeping anymore. It's not surprising that Petra made it here before me, even with my short morning rituals. She's probably one of those endangered species like Ted that run at 6 AM in the morning.

"Oh! Petra, you're already here?" I asked, blinking the sleep from my eyes.

"Yes, I am. I was just preparing breakfast for us all, so I had to get up early. You're up awfully early as well, aren't you?" Petra asked, handing me a plate.

"Wow, you're certainly dedicated. And yes, I'm up early. Usually I wake up at like noon... but I couldn't get any sleep." I stretched my arms behind my back in a yawn.

"I didn't get the title of the Ultimate Maid for nothing, you know. Tea?" Petra nodded, then offered me a cup.

"I don't doubt your skills. You're really good at what you do. And yes, thank you." I smiled and sat down after setting up the table.

Petra sat down as well with her own cup of tea and smiled at me, "A nice morning chat with tea sounds nice, right? And straighten your back!"

I snapped straight up, "Yes ma'am!"

* * *

**Free Time with Petra?**

**Yes** or No?

* * *

Hana: So Petra, you're really good at being a maid. I don't think I could cook or clean nearly as good as you. How did you even become a maid?

Petra: Well, my mother was a maid.

Hana: You decided to follow after your mother?

Petra: You could say that. I didn't have a father figure, so I just watched my mother as she tended to the needs of others. Since I paid attention as a kid, I know what I have to do now.

Hana: Um, is that why you're so overly critical?

Petra: Overly? Excuse you, it helps, does it not?

Hana: Well... Now that you mention it, I don't really slouch as much as I used to.

Petra: That's very nice to hear. See, it does work.

Hana: That's nice and all, but... I'm not exactly the type of person who can afford a maid.

Petra: Ah, I think I know where you're going with this.

Petra: You think that the rich people I serve don't tolerate my nagging, right?

Hana: Am I incorrect?

Petra: No. The wealthy have a huge ego problem. They don't like thinking that they have any problems and think they are some sort of perfect being.

Hana: Wow, it seems like you really hate that. Wouldn't you hate me too? I kind of have an ego problem.

Petra: No, you're not... not the same. Do you think you're perfect?

Hana: -chuckles-

Hana: Well, look at me.

Petra: Don't lie to yourself. That was a joke, wasn't it? You are the type to joke and like to make others happy because it makes you happy. It also makes people notice you. Although you seem to be confident enough, you don't truly have an ego problem.

Hana: !

Petra: You know that you can improve yourself, and that's what separates you from the terrible people I've served. I'm not wrong. I know I'm not.

Hana: I guess so.

Petra: Having confidence isn't a bad thing, you know. It's quite good, in my eyes. As long as you know you aren't perfect.

Hana: You're quite confident too, aren't you?

Petra: Yes. My mother trained me to be the way I am now, and if I were not confident in my abilities, I would be shaming her as a mother. And she did excellently bringing me up as a child. I am not a perfect being myself, but that's better than those who claim they are.

Hana: Your mother... what about her?

Petra: She was... a loving woman. She was the only thing I had for a long, long while. She's taught me everything I know and even taught me martial arts.

Hana: You know martial arts?!

Petra: Yes. Do not fret, I will not attack you. I simply use it in self-defense.

Hana: Did you need a self-defense tactic?

Petra: Perhaps. That is for me to know. Nobody likes someone who is nosy, you know.

Hana: !

Hana: Fuck, I hate nosy people the most.

Petra: See, you're a hypocrite. No cursing, please. I don't want you to end up like Tio.

Hana: Yeah, I guess I am. I really hope all the people I've talked to don't think I was being nosy... I just wanted to make friends.

Petra: Hm. To make it up, why don't you share a bit about yourself then?

Hana: Me? Is there really anything interesting about me?

Petra: Of course.

Hana: I dunno what to tell you.

Petra: Lying is bad for you.

Hana: -sighs-

Hana: This is something I can only trust you with, I guess.

Petra: Yes?

Hana: You guys might think I'm outgoing, but... I have trouble making friends. I'm actually really shy and care more than I should about how people view me. I'm actually confident, that's not a lie. But when it comes to people, it's as if they never like me.

Petra: I... I understand. Do you think everyone likes me? Of course not. But do not worry. A nice young lady like yourself doesn't need the approval of those who don't deserve your respect.

Hana: Huh? ... Thanks Petra.

Petra: Do not worry, you're not alone. In fact... would you like to be... friends?

Hana: Of course!

Petra: I'm glad to hear it.

Hana: Thanks, Petra. Thanks so much for listening to me.

Hana: Here, take this. I'm sure you'd wear it much better than me.

Petra: !

Petra: Silver hairpins?

Hana: Yeah, what's so weird about them?

Petra: Nothing. They just remind me of a pair I already own. Thank you. Of course I cannot accept a gift without giving my own. Here you go.

Hana: What's this?

Petra: Just a yoga handbook. It'll help you improve your posture.

Hana: Thanks, Petra. You're a lot... cooler than I originally thought.

Petra: -laughs softly-

Petra: Thank you... friend.

* * *

_Petra is still kind of rude and overly critical, but she's a nice person on the inside. She just... doesn't express it that well. She seems to actually care for my well being and for my posture. Yeah, it's nagging to some people, but I realized that she really does care for the people she nags. She grew up with only her mother and no father. However, her mother taught her everything that she knows, including martial arts. Despite her thin figure, she's probably really strong. Eep!_

**Petra Adamanteen : Level 1 Social Link**

_Item Get!: A yoga handbook. It'll help me straighten out my back. I've stopped slouching a lot since Petra scolded me, but this will help even more._

* * *

Just as I was ending my conversation with Petra, most of the others walked in. Wow, they're sure in sync. Unless they all gathered outside and waiting for me to finish speaking to Petra. How nice! Oh wait, they probably did it because they didn't want to be yelled at by Petra for being late. Being yelled at in a group is easier, honestly. What can I even expect from these people?

I approached the group. "Where's Mazuri?"

"Don't know, don't care." Tio placed his feet on the table.

Petra shook her head in disgust. "Must you place your dirty sneakers on the table? You do know we eat on it, right?"

Tio shrugged as a response. Petra sighed. "Anyways," I sat between Kiyomi and Ted. "Have any of you guys seen her since yesterday?"

Everyone shake their head no. I don't like where this is going. I hope she's okay.

"Atsuko, you're friends with Mazuri, right? Do you know where she is?" Ted said, looking at her.

No response. That's weird, she usually laughing by now, especially if someone asked her a question. She looks focus on her handbook. What is she doing with it? I mean, the thing is pretty interesting, but she's unusually absorbed with the thing.

"Uh, Atsuko?" Ted said a little bit louder, trying to get her attention. It's not working; she is too absorbed in her handbook. "Atsuko!" Still nothing.

"Holy shit. For the love of christ." Tio put his feet down and slammed his hands on the table. "ATSUKO!"

Atsuko whipped her head away from her handbook. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. But that was quickly wash over with a smile that was plastered on her face.

"TIO!" She started having a giggle fit. Miki even joined in.

We stared at Miki. She gave us a sheepish smile and start squirming awkwardly. "Sorry."

Minato rub his eyes in frustration. I can feel his anger at Atsuko across the table. It seems he is on the last ropes with her.

I clear my throat to get her attention. "Atsuko, we were wondering if you know where Mazuri is? Were you able to find her yesterday?"

"Nope, not at all!" She went back to her handbook. "I've really been focusing on this website. It's so much fun!"

"What?!" We all said together. I couldn't connect to the internet at all last night. If she can go on a website, we could call for help.

We all take out our handbook, swiping the touch screen with our fingers. I tap the internet icon. I can't believe this is working now. I tried for almost 2 hours last night but nothing happened. The browser open up and a video starts playing. It's of that bear, Monokuma, laughing his ass off with the words "NO ESCAPE STUPID" flying through the video. Ha... That's terrible, but at least it wasn't a rick roll like I expected it to be. Wow, my priorities are all messed up.

"What the fuck is this shit?" Tio said with anger in his voice.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen. I can't believe this. Why would that damn bear do this?! This is just cruel. Suddenly I heard laughing from Atsuko. I turned to see her holding her sides, failing to contain her laughter.

"Hahaha, y-y-your faces." She went in another laughing fit. I looked at the others and they look like they were about to tear her head off. "Yo-you should've s-s-s, hahahahaha, should've seen them. Priceless."

Ted looked puzzled. "Why did you do that?" He asked an uncontrollable laughing Atsuko.

Atsuko stood up, her arms spread wide. "For the laughs of course! Hehehehe" A smile never leaving her face.

Kiyomi slammed her hands on the table, standing up. "It wasn't funny!"

Petra nodded. "I agree, it was in poor taste."

Atsuko smile vanished all of a sudden, the aura around her is no longer the same. It's dark, cold, villainous even. As Atsuko's aura changed, both Hokuto and Xiang stood up. Xiang got into a fighting stance and Hokuto reached for something in his inner coat pocket. The atmosphere felt like what I'd imagine a warzone would feel like. I felt my breath becoming shorter and shorter as the time went on. Why does it feel like the minutes are becoming longer? It's... really tense. I feel like I could be killed at any moment. I hate this! I'm not used to feeling so vulnerable.

Almost as soon the death like atmosphere appeared, it vanished, and Atsuko's smile returned. She's start laughing again, pointing at us. What... what's wrong with this girl? She's CRAZY. I know that some of these people aren't the nicest or the sanest, but her... She's something I can't put my finger on. She definitely has something wrong with her.

"What the hell are you doing? Y-You're a disgrace! What's wrong with you?!" Ryota shouted angrily, but he seemed more shocked than anything.

Atsuko's smile went wider from the question. It's starting to creep me out how much she's smiling. "Everything!" She slowly starts backing away from us. "And nothing. Hehehehe." She turned away from us, and walked towards the exit.

"Anywho, I should start looking for Mazuri, she would love to hear the trick I pulled on you guys. Hehehehe, priceless." She stop in her tracks. My heart starts pumping on overdrive. Why do I feel scared all of a sudden. "I should thank Monokuma for doing me that favor."

My eyes widen in shock. She asked Monokuma a favor! Wait a sec, is that why she was with him yesterday? "You weren't searching for Mazuri at all last night, were you?"

"Hana?" Xiang said, clearly wanting me to clarify the situation.

I looked at him. "I saw her yesterday with Monokuma. She said he was helping her find Mazuri. Now, I see that, it was all a lie."

Issac narrow his eyes on Atsuko. "Is that true?"

She turned to face us. "Yup! A good old fashioned lie, for a good old fashioned joke." She sniffed while wiping a fake tear from her cheeks. "My dad would be so proud of me." Her smile became wider again, showing some of her teeth. "How else do you think I was able to do the trick." She placed her arms wide out, palms facing outwards. "Gotta go guys, I'll talk to you later." She starts running to the exit, swaying left and right. Is she pretending to be an airplane? She's like a little kid, jeez. It's hard to believe that the famous Atsuko Koyanagi is such a brat.

I shook my head. "To think I was worried about her."

"I can't believe her." Ryota rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Mika placed her hand on top of his. "Hey, you okay?"

"What?" Ryota quickly washed over his melancholy look with a smile. It's fake again. How many times is he going to do that fake smile of his? Is it to put us at ease, or is it to put himself at ease? "Of course I am. Everyone is shaken up, obviously... I was just little shocked to see, well, whatever the hell that was."

"We should discuss our findings before you continue on with your drabble." Issac faced me. "What did you found in your search Hana?"

Of course he disregarded someone's feelings. "Well, _Issac_, I found nothing useful. I found this stupid machine that spits out stuff, if you have KumaCoins."

"What's KumaCoins?" Miki asked me.

I sighed. "I dunno how to get them, but it's some sort of other currency."

Tio snorted obnoxiously. "Of course you don't know how to obtain money. You only had one dollar in your wallet, after all."

I rolled my eyes. "What about you Mister Smuggler? You find anything cool?"

"Nope. They have a billiard table though." Tio shrugged.

"The best thing I found out was that despite being a huge school, it's very easy to maneuver throughout the building. Every single wing is connected to each other in multiple ways." Koh inputted something useful.

"That's correct, it seems that it's very easy to move through the school in these secret passageways that connect to every part of the school. Or at least the first floor." That explains why everyone just appeared out of nowhere yesterday. Goddamn.

"Hah! What a riot. That makes it easier to kill someone and get away, doesn't it?" Tio guffawed and nearly fell out of his chair.

"Do not say something so... violent. It's not a joking matter." Hokuto bit his lip.

"Whatever, hitman. You're not any fun. And I'm just stating the obvious, you losers were all thinking it." Tio shrugged and tipped further back on his chair.

Petra kicked one of the legs of the chair that were still on the ground and sent Tio crashing to the floor, "Good, now the nuisance will shut up."

Mika sighed. I guess she is frustrated about us not finding anything useful, "So no one was able to find an exit?"

Xiang shook his head in disappointment, "No, I don't think so Mika. Do not worry though, I am sure that we will find something soon."

"Oh yeah, why do you say that? It's not like you found anything useful." Miki glared at Xiang. She was being ruder than usual, but it was only because she was in a bad mood like the rest of us.

Xiang brushed off her rude comment rather gracefully, not to mention politely, "I'm glad you asked that Miss Hinamori. I found a set of stairs. Unfortunately, they are not accessible at the time. However, I'm sure that they can lead us out when we find out how to access them."

"Wow, you're pretty and deal with the rude fans so gracefully. You'd be a good co-star!" Kiyomi muttered before taking a sip out of a cup that was marked 'SUPERSTARS ONLY'.

"Excuse you. I'm not a weird fangirl, okay? Jeeeeez." Miki sighed. Although she was being unnecessarily rude, I had to feel bad for her.

Mika clapped her hands awkwardly, "Er, excuse me. Could we get back to the topic at hand please?"

"Huh? I'm talking about the important things here. This show needs a good co-star, and I think he'd be the best out of you... plain losers." Kiyomi stated rather bluntly, then coughed, "Plus, he knows who I am! I know that weird bug boy knows me, but it's a shame that he can't recognize true talent."

"You're talking about me, I assume?" Minato looked unamused as always. And wow, he kind of does look like a bug now that I think about it.

"Thank you Kiyomi, I appreciate the compliment. However, I do believe it is time to get back to-" Xiang was suddenly cut off by Kiyomi coughing violently. She punched herself in the gut, as if she were trying to get herself to regurgitate her drink.

"GUK! HHHHH! Help... Help me! Someone... Someone poisoned my drink!" Kiyomi managed to pant out, before falling to the floor and dropping her cup.

"Huh?! Kiyomi! Kiyomi! Are you alright?" Petra was immediately by the girl's side. Xiang widened his eyes, shocked, before following after.

The reality star's eyes were wide in shock. She was spluttering some words, but none of us could make out what she was trying to tell us. Gently, Mika swept away shards of broken glass from Kiyomi's cup and kneeled down by her side. Everyone slowly gathered around to see the face of the reality star. Her breathing was slow and heavy... and then it stopped. Her wide eyes drooped shut.

"No! This can't be! We... we worked so hard to find a way out. We will find a way out, why did one of you do this?" Mika lost her calm composure for a second.

"Kiyomi... She was a bitch, but I can't- There's no way this is happening!" Miki looked extremely stunned.

As sudden as the room had gone silent, everything had gone into an uproar. My fellow students kept screaming nonsense to each other, and nothing could be clearly comprehended. Mika was desperately trying to shush everyone while several others were silent in remorse or shock. A few of them were severely irritated, but the majority of the students were screaming at the top of their lungs. I... I didn't understand what was going on.

Was a fellow student really dead? Especially when we worked so hard to find out a way out... Was despair truly taking over?

* * *

**Woo! Things are getting pretty interesting now, right? Heh... It's always fun to write these parts out. Anyways, a big thanks to my co-author, InariKurenai. Also thank you to my new beta reader, michanforever. I really appreciate it, and you guys should check them out! PS: If Hana seems like a Mary-Sue for knowing a ton of things, just remember she's a loser and isn't actually good at much. She's just diverse to connect with everyone else. One week update, BAM! Go me xD**

**Otaku Eloise: Mhm! I'm glad you liked it. Thanks! I really love the Social Links too.**

**HeroinofDarkness: Yes, everything has begun. And it certainly won't be pretty.**

**ApexUtopia: Yeah! Hokuto is super sweet. He doesn't like killing despite his talent. I'm glad I'm writing her in character. And really? Ha, that's funny to think about. I'm so glad you guys are liking the Social Links!**

**WhiteWeasel: So do I! All these character are lovely. Ah, yes. Actually I'm trying to make this story more like the game, but I do realize that it is a bit... awkward. Oooh... The idea is quite interesting indeed. We'll see~**

**Headphone Jack: Ahh, really? I'm glad you liked his freetime. Hehe, all the people in theater that I know don't hesitate to speak their mind. And I'll keep that in mind. I'll try and implement it soon, sorry about that. I really didn't get the nerdy vibe when I went through his bio. But it'll be fixed, rest assured ^^**

**BIG SHOUTOUT: Thank you to Otaku Eloise, HeroinofDarkness, ApexUtopia, and White Weasel for being the constant reviewers. I really do love seeing your feedback, and you're all so nice ^^**

**Question: Who in the story do you most relate to? For me, I'd say Yukira or Mika, probably.  
**


	9. Let's Party?

Some of the students silently gazed at Kiyomi's motionless body while the majority of them screamed at each other. Accusations were being thrown left and right, but none of them actually made any sense. A certain maid was obviously getting increasingly angry and tapped her foot loudly. None of the other students who were making a commotion stopped what they were doing.

"CAN YOU ALL JUST BE QUIET?!" Petra screamed, and the room finally settled down.

"Thank you, Petra." Isaac rolled his eyes in annoyance at everyone else.

"Now then. You all are freaking out over nothing." Minato said in an exasperated manner.

"I can't believe you, Minato! I understand that you may not have been the most fond of her... but she died. You can't write that off as nothing." Yukira didn't even seem mad, she just seemed unnaturally solemn.

"No. Guys, he's right." Ryota spoke up.

"I didn't think you were the insensitive type, Mister Morimoto." Hokuto seemed put off, before continuing, "Hm. I do believe my judging of your character is fine. So why is this not a big deal, exactly?"

"Can't you guys figure it out?" Ryota asked, blinking in shock.

"Could you elaborate on that?" Hokuto seemed calm, but was more unnerved than usual.

"Oh yeah! Just because you're a little smart doesn't mean anything. Why don't you just tell us? Unless this is just an act and you're as dumb as you look." Mazuri spoke up and glared at Ryota.

Wait, Mazuri?! Where the hell had she come from? She was the last person we expected to waltz into the cafeteria with us, but at least she was okay. Or maybe not... Her insufferable attitude was already starting to get on my nerves. It's bad enough that one of us was... well, dead... but now some of the others were being incredibly insensitive. A short silence hung over us.

"Mazuri?! Where the hell were you?" Ted spoke out for the shock of the rest of us.

"I came when I heard the body discovery announcement." Mazuri shrugged, and Atsuko nodded by her side.

"You liar." Isaac simply stated.

"Excuse you, nerd? What did you say to me?" Mazuri narrowed her eyes.

Isaac simply responded yet again, "You're a liar."

Before Mazuri could speak up, Minato butted in, "Alright! We'll stop being so goddamn vague. She's not dead, you idiots. She's just faking it. Mazuri just wandered in here, there was no stupid body discovery announcement. Can't you all tell that she's not dead?"

"She looks pretty dead to me. Who are you calling an idiot, idiot?" Ted muttered bitterly.

"I have to agree with Ted... I don't want to admit it, but the announcement probably went off when you were all screaming at each other." Xiang brought up calmly, though he looked a bit on edge.

"Okay fine then. If you don't believe logic, then just believe what you see." Isaac strolled over to Kiyomi's motionless body.

What... what was he planning on doing? Slowly, Isaac brought up his foot and tapped on the ground. When Kiyomi still didn't move an inch, Isaac sighed to himself. Swinging his leg back, he looked like he was preparing to kick her. How rude! I knew he was pretty insensitive, but... That's just plain cruel. Why would you kick a dead body?

"This is your last warning, Kiyomi. If you don't stop pretending, I will bring my foot down onto your face. Trust me, it won't be pretty." Isaac stared down at her, but he looked uninterested.

"..." Everyone else stayed silent as Isaac started to swing his foot forward. Mika and Xiang looked as if they were ready to jump in to stop him, but what was the use of protecting her...? She was dead, as cruel as that is to think.

"Ha! Your reactions were priceless! How's that for acting?" Kiyomi suddenly shot up from the ground, right before Isaac's foot would have collided with her face.

"You've gotta be shitting me." Tio deadpanned.

"KIYOMI! Why would you ever do that to us? Why, I ought to..." Petra was boiling with anger. Xiang rushed over to her side and patted her back reassuringly.

"It's alright Petra... Just calm down..." Xiang whispered soothingly.

"Like hell we should calm down! She just scared us half to death! This is the closest I've ever gotten to actually _wanting_ someone to die!" Ted burst out angrily.

"Why... Why did you do it?" Yukira seemed as if she was close to tears.

"Because! Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Kiyomi exclaimed happily, "Your reactions were the best! Ha~!"

"What is she even going on about?" Hokuto stepped back.

"And you suckers all thought Atsuko was crazy!" Mazuri started giggling, and it increased into outright laughter.

"Shut up, you brat! Atsuko is still crazy, but now we've got another one..." Miki put her hand to her forehead.

"Brat?! Look who is talking you-" Mazuri growled, but paused.

"What? You don't have anything?" Miki asked smugly.

"No. I just don't want to be with you losers any longer. I might catch stupidity." Mazuri pretended to choke and turned to leave.

"Oh no you don't, young lady. You are staying right here until all of this nonsense is cleared up." Petra sternly stated, grabbing Mazuri by the ear.

"I hate all of your guts." Mazuri growled, and for once, nobody argued with her.

A silence once again hung over the room. Nobody wanted to speak to each other, and everyone but Kiyomi (and perhaps Atsuko) was definitely not amused. Everyone just sort of stood glaring holes at the person next to them. A few students made a hopeful look towards the exit, but Petra cleared her throat and headed near the doors. She promptly blocked the exit.

"Petra... You did state that we need to get this nonsense cleared up. I agree wholeheartedly. However... How should we start?" Koh coughed in attempt to break the eerie silence.

"WELL THEN. Er, hahaha... What now?" Mika asked awkwardly.

"Ugh, I'm just pissed off that the drama queen over here had to be all... drama-y." Miki groaned.

"I literally hate every single one of you. Go die. I hate, hate, hate you!" Mazuri increasingly got louder.

"Why don't you stop acting like a child? You're an annoyance!" Petra nursed her head as if she had a headache.

"I'm leaving!" Mazuri huffed and started stomping off for the second time.

"Halt!" Xiang suddenly shouted.

"Huh? What's your problem?" Mazuri was in a sourer mood than usual. Yikes. To be fair, everyone was.

"I... just wanted to express something that I feel." Xiang paused, "I know that we aren't all on the best of terms, but we need to get along. For the sake of ourselves and others."

"I don't care about the rest of you. I don't want to make friends." Mazuri deadpanned.

"Fine then. You can be the first to be killed." Petra shrugged.

"Petra- That is not the way you should be dealing with her..." Hokuto said sternly.

"Yes, I know. But she needs to understand that the world does not revolve around her. It might make her feel bad, but this is the quickest way for her to understand that she needs to grow up or else someone will come and kill her. I am simply looking out for her." Petra retorted.

"I don't need your help!" Mazuri shouted, "I don't need anyone's help!"

"SILENCE!" Koh shouted, surprising the rest of us. He seemed to notice that he had been a bit too loud, and flinched a bit before apologizing, "Sorry, but... Xiang is right! Don't you see what's going on here? You are all fighting for no reason! Mazuri, there is no reason for you not to open up. Why won't you let us help you? Please... Let's just try to get along."

"Thank you, Koh. If only there was some way for us to get to know each other better." Xiang breathed in deeply

"Isn't that obvious? I have an idea-" Kiyomi was instantly cut off.

"Excuse you. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say." Miki bluntly stated.

"Yeah. Even though I didn't fall for your pathetic attempt for attention, I don't really want to hear what you have to say." Minato crossed his arms.

"At least hear what she has to say." Isaac sternly said.

"Huh? But- Why?" Ryota narrowed his eyes.

"It might be better than anything any of you have to say." Isaac retorted.

"Usually I'm not the one to be rude, but she's seriously pissed off all of us. I'm not quite ready to forgive her." Ted cracked his knuckles in a sort of menacing manner, though I'm sure it wasn't intentional.

"...WHY? You losers! I am a celebrity! Why don't you listen to me? It was just a joke! Forgive me, okay? Jeez!" Kiyomi shouted out of nowhere.

"Kiyomi..." Xiang laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I... I just want you all to like me! To pay attention to me! Is that so bad? I'm sorry! There, I said it, okay? I'm trying to redeem myself now. I want to give you all a reason to forgive me. So please, let me speak." Kiyomi had tears near the edges of her eyes.

"Oh, Kiyomi... We're sorry, go on and say what you want." Yukira's eyes grew wide with worry.

"Actually, I'm not sorry so-" Miki brought up, but then closed her mouth irritably, "Okay, fine, I'm sorry."

Kiyomi's tears seemed to instantly evaporate. She didn't even wipe away her tears... it was if they had quite literally disappeared. Instead of drooping low, the corners of her mouth shot up into a wide grin and she definitely had a change in her mood. Her entire face seemed to brighten with happiness, and it was hard to believe that she had been crying just a split second before. Wait, was this girl pretending again? Just to get a reaction out of us! How dare—"

"A party. If we have a party, we'll definitely get along better. Plus, I need to get to know my other co-stars. And of course you all want to meet the star of the show, yours truly." Kiyomi giggled.

Before anyone else could speak up, Mika smiled politely, "Yes, that's a fine idea, Kiyomi."

"No—" Minato started, but Ryota put his hand over his mouth.

"Just let her have this, okay? She might actually be hurt..." Xiang whispered from the corner of his mouth.

"Heh, of course it's a good idea." Kiyomi smirked, oblivious to Minato and Xiang, "I was the one who brought it up, after all."

"I do remember saying that collaborating for information was useful, but I don't want to take part in wasting time." Isaac yawned.

"I agree. I do not wish to partake in this event." Minato was emotionless as ever.

"Look, I know you might not like it... but we have to get along. That's the only way we're going to survive." Xiang announced to us.

"I don't wanna." Mazuri pouted childishly.

"Look, bitch. What's wrong with a party? You need to chill out. A party might be the only thing that doesn't bore me in this hell hole. You aren't ruining this for me." Tio spoke up nonchalantly.

"It's mandatory. And that is final." Petra slammed her hand down on a table, and with that, we were dismissed.

* * *

"Ugh, this royally sucks. I really hope that this works." I groaned as I made my way out.

"Actually, there is a tactical advantage to a party. Social events always make the bonds of others stronger." Ryota piped up next to me.

"Tactical advantage? What is this, Fire Emblem?" I stared at him incredulously.

"Er, well I've calculated it, you know. Even that embarrassment and that rude magician will have a higher chance of, well, being happy when they are with others who make the effort to be friendly." Ryota tapped his chin.

"Wow. So you've got some smarts in you after all. That's why Minato actually puts up with you." I stated bluntly.

"I don't put up with him. He's still overly arrogant to the point where it's endearing." Minato deadpanned.

"At least you two get along fine. In fact, some of us are really nice people. It's a shame that we have people who refuse to make friends like Mazuri." Koh muttered beside us.

"It really is a shame, isn't it?" Ryota frowned, "I was so forward to meeting new people at Hope's Peak and now this is what happens."

"If you're worried so much, just wait until the party. It's tomorrow, in case you weren't listening." Minato briskly said, "You'll get a chance to interact with people, okay?"

"At least we can look forward to that." Ryota perked up, "Despite being an airhead, I know that Kiyomi must be quite the party planner."

"A party! I've never been to a high school party before. I wonder what sort of... scandalous things might happen." Yukira seemed shocked at her own words.

"Uh, I mean Kiyomi might go big, but it's not like anything you might see in a movie." Ted grinned at her.

"Ah, really? That's good. I wouldn't want to clean up such a mess. I didn't think it was possible to trash an entire house anyways." Yukira seemed to relax.

"Speaking of cleaning up... Setting up might be a huge pain too, right?" I shuddered at the thought of all that work.

"I'm pretty sure the planners know what they're doing." Koh blinked, "They don't need nuisances like me there. Er, not to say the rest of you are nuisances! Just me, hahaha..."

"You don't need to be so tense. Everything will be okay; all we have to do is sit through the torture of waiting." I groaned, before sharply turning back around.

"Huh? Where are you going Hana?" Koh turned to face me.

"I remembered that I can kill time by choreographing. I'll be in the gym if you need me!" I smiled to myself and took off running.

* * *

"Left, left... Right, right. Twirl, and jump!" I voiced my actions and then came to an abrupt stop.

The music stopped right as my feet landed on the ground. Sweet! Another perfect execution to my own choreographed dance, of course. It was nice to finally relax after what had happened today. I sighed and lay on the floor, happily closing my eyes. However, my blissful peace was disrupted when my e-Handbook started to beep rapidly.

"Oh shit, please don't explode!" I fumbled with the device, before throwing it as far away as I could.

My e-Handbook didn't explode, thankfully. Oh god, I was too on edge lately. What was this, a stupid action story? My breathing slowed to a normal pace, and I scrambled over to my e-Handbook. Gingerly picking it up, I sighed in relief when I saw that no cracks blemished the screen.

"Jeez, what was that all about?" I rolled my eyes and continued what I had been doing.

Approximately thirty minutes later, a sharp knock sounded on the doors to the gym. Before I could say that there was no reason to knock, Xiang opened the large doors. He stepped inside and immediately made his way towards me.

"Hello, Hana. Did you not get the text message Kiyomi sent you?"

"No. I don't have my phone on me. And how would Kiyomi even know my number?" I looked at him in confusion.

"Oh, so you don't know. That would explain it." Xiang chuckled humorously.

"Don't know what?" I continued to stare at him as if he had a screw loose.

"The e-Handbook can send text messages. Didn't it beep obnoxiously?" Xiang explained briskly.

"Oh. Now that you mention it, it did. What can't this thing do?" I stared at the big tablet-like object.

"I'm sure there is much it can do. But regarding the text message, Kiyomi has requested your help. She says it's urgent and something only you can accomplish." Xiang's spoke as he started leading me out of the gym.

"She needs my help? Alright. I can help her out. I'm not surprised though. I didn't actually expect you, Kiyomi, Petra, and Mika to create a party in under twenty-four hours. Not to say you aren't impressive—" I chuckled, remembering that Xiang could probably snap me like a twig.

"Petra brought up that it would be better if we all worked together. Sort of like a pre-party so we can get to know each other even better." Xiang seemed really happy at the thought.

"Yeah, we're are all good people, but we just need to get to know each other." I smiled politely.

"That's right. We need to do what we can to prevent a murder." Xiang stated quite grimly.

The short rest of the distance to the cafeteria was spent in comfortable silence after Xiang's rather depressing comment. It did set me off for a bit, but he was right. It was something blunt that I would state as well, but I had been trying to forget. But that was the true nature of the party. For us to all get along so no one would have to die before their time. Pushing all the depressing thoughts from my mind, I opened the door to the cafeteria and was greeted by a pleasant sight.

"Hana! Where were you? Gawds! I have been waiting, for like, ever!" Kiyomi immediately approached her.

I didn't even pay attention to her. I just stared in awe at the full cafeteria. It was decorated quite nicely and had a magical theme. Ahh, Disney themed. I smiled when I read the large banner drooping from the ceiling. Despite Kiyomi apparently calling me for something only I could do, everyone was gathered in the cafeteria yet again. Way to make me feel special.

"Hello?! Hana! Listen to me!" Kiyomi snapped in my face, successfully snapping me out of my daze. Ha ha ha... I'm funny.

"Yeah? What? I'm listening." I blatantly lied.

"Alright. Yeah, so I just want you to pick the music for the party and all since you're a choreographer." Kiyomi bossily said before briskly walking off to tell the newly arrived Ted what he was supposed to do.

"Hey! Why do you get to do it?" Miki pouted angrily at me.

"Huh? Do what?" I asked, blinking at her.

"Wow. You really are stupid. Why do you get to choose the music? I'm the pianist." Miki crossed her arms.

"I don't know. She just chose me. I bet you'll be actually preforming, so..." I smiled awkwardly.

"Yes, that's right. You'll be amazing, Miki." Mika came up behind them, "Isn't this fun, though? We get to include everyone with their talents and all."

I had to admit, it was pretty sweet. Everyone was getting along MUCH better than a few hours ago. It seemed like everyone had forgiven Kiyomi for her stunt she pulled, but with good reason. The girl definitely knew how to party well. Maybe not a crazy party, but it would definitely be... magical. Like Disney!

"Not to burst your bubble, sweetheart... but what the fuck can a smuggler do to help?" Tio groaned, sitting down.

"Hokuto can't do much with his talent either, but he's moving the grand piano. Why don't you help him?" Mika suggested.

"Nah. I'd rather not. This is kind of boring for now. Ask Xiang or something." Tio shrugged.

"Xiang is cooking though." Miki stated bluntly, "Why don't you do something useful, you lazy bum?"

"Not my problem. And I'm not a bum, little girl. I bet I could buy your entire family. Now shut up, I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when we start partying." Tio closed his eyes and instantly began to snore softly.

Ted appeared next to me, being newly briefed by Kiyomi, "What can I do to help?"

"Oh, lovely. They need a macho guy to lift my piano. Don't hurt it." Miki waved to him as he jogged off to help Hokuto.

"Shouldn't you help them? I mean the faster they get your piano ready, the faster you can practice." I brought up.

"Well then shouldn't you be picking out your music?" Miki shot back.

"I've got a perfect playlist inside my head. I'm already done." I said, rather proud of myself.

"Then I don't really need to practice, do I? None of you seem to know real music. I've been practicing my entire life, I'll be fine." Miki said, but she still went to help carry the heavy piano.

"Oh, Hana. If you're done with your task, I'm sure Xiang and Petra need your help in the kitchen." Mika started herding me towards the kitchen door.

* * *

"Oh hey! Hana's here, guys!" Yukira stared at me, before shouting over her shoulder.

"Oh, hello Hana. It's nice of you to help out." Petra didn't even look at me. She simply continued to scour the cabinet for something.

"Yes, I need your help actually. We need to fill a lot of mouths, after all." Xiang was cooking over a large flame. Whatever it was, it smelled good.

"Aww, come on Xiang! Your dishes smell so good. I thought my secret family recipes would blow the others away." Yukira pouted, but it was obvious that she was having fun.

"Secret family recipe? It doesn't seem so secret to me." I stared at her.

"Huh? Why do you say that?" Yukira looked at me with a look of shock.

"You're not even cooking the dish... You're just telling Petra how to cook it for you." I said slowly.

"But Petra promised not to tell anyone. Besides, I'm not used to cooking. Usually a maid does it for me... So thank you Petra." Yukira smiled as the busy maid rushed past her.

"Of course. I don't mind." Petra said without much emotion. She was obviously concentrated on cooking.

"Well... Is there anything I can do then?" I brought up.

"Thanks for offering. Ryota went to go set up the table, so I don't have anyone to hand me ingredients. Could you do me a favor and get me some pepper?" Xiang asked politely.

"Of course." I got up on the counter and reached into the cabinet. Taking hold of the large container of pepper, I stretched my arm to hand it to the cook.

After a few minutes of handing Xiang ingredient after ingredient, he hummed happily to himself. He shut off the stove, and then shook the pan a few times. Immediately, I reached for a large plate from the top cabinet and handed it to him. He bent the pan over the plate and the delicious food came tumbling out.

"Wow! It really smells good." I was practically drooling.

"That's good to hear. This is to eat right now. We've all been working very hard, so it'll be nice to have a family style dinner together." Xiang handed Petra a plate and she instantly left for the cafeteria. Yukira followed, then Koh, then Minato, then Isaac, and lastly, I took the second to last plate and Xiang followed me out with the last one.

"Oh man, this is a great idea. This food looks delicious." I inhaled slowly.

I set down the plate and everyone else gathered around the table. Sitting in front of them was an array of foods, but not too much. Just enough for them to have a snack, and then get back to work. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, and it even made me forget about the despair we were in for.

"I'll go wake Tio. He didn't do anything, but I guess we have enough for him." Petra clapped loudly in front of Tio's face.

"What? Jeez, lady. Calm down." Tio shot up, then rolled his eyes.

"Be lucky we're allowing your lazy self to eat. Now then, go on." Petra ushered him towards the rest of us.

"Aw, why you gotta be on my ass about not doing anything? It's not like it's my fault I can't do anything because I'm a smuggler. Mazuri isn't here and I don't see you bitchin' at her. She could probably do some lame ass magic trick or something. What can I do?" Tio groaned.

"You could try, for one thing. And I don't see Mazuri getting any food, now do I? So be grateful and sit down." Petra shot at him quite elegantly.

Everyone enjoyed the brief break we had. Despite working for most of the day, all of us were in high spirits. The work had been fun enough, and we were all excited for the party. There was excited murmuring among all of us as we all pleasantly chatted. It was a shame we were all having fun while Mazuri refused to help out in anyway. She'd have to show up for the party, so that was good enough.

"Hm? Where... Where is my purse?" Petra seemed utterly confused as she got up and looked around her chair.

"Oopsie daisy!" We all turned to see Atsuko holding a sopping wet purse, contents spilling out of it.

"ATSUKO! Don't tell me that is mine!" Petra was immediately at Atsuko's side, and snatched up the wet purse.

"Why is she even here? Atsuko's a major freak!" Miki backed away from the crazy comedian.

"Yeah! I get that the party is mandatory, but it'd be more comforting if both Mazuri and Atsuko weren't present at the pre-party." Ted shifted awkwardly, not making eye-contact with anyone.

"Shush, it is nice of Atsuko to provide help unlike that child. However... It's annoying that you'd mess with my personal belongings!" Petra exhaled deeply.

"Oh dear..." Minato muttered, "What is with women and their possessions? She can just get a new one."

"It seems like she had some important things in there..." Ted looked like he felt really bad for her. I turned around to see Petra fuming mad, but also seemingly mourning what had been ruined.

"Atsuko..." Hokuto talked to the girl as if she were a child, "What do we say to Miss Adamanteen?"

"Sorry... It was just a joke! You guys are no fun!" Atsuko pouted like a kid who was being reprimanded by her parents.

"It... It..." Petra was breathing heavily.

"Petra, calm down. Try to not end up in an argument." Isaac rudely said.

"You make a good point. I won't cause an unnecessary fuss. It's... It's alright Atsuko. I didn't have anything of great importance in there." Petra's eye started to twitch. I bet there was something she liked in there.

"Why don't you go practice your jokes with Mazuri in her room? Come on... Let's go." Hokuto sensibly got Atsuko away from Petra by leading her out of the cafeteria.

"I'm grateful." Petra mouthed to Hokuto as he left, and he just gave her a reassuring smile.

"Are you alright?" Xiang asked with concern in his tone.

"Yeah. I was really worried I had something important in there, but there was nothing of great importance." Petra sighed in relief.

"That girl really needs to know how to control herself. She's such a child." Miki rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. But I don't think she'll ever know how. She is literally a child in a teenager's body. I think we need to watch her." Ted let out a frustrated growl.

"I can't do babysitting, especially with that nuisance." Minato promptly refused to look after her.

"Ha, babysitting. That's practically what it is." Ted laughed without humor.

"Let's just hope her annoying pranks cease immediately." Ryota yawned, looking up from his book.

"Yes. If they do not, I will make sure they do." Petra nodded to herself.

Everyone sort of backed away. It was definitely scary to see Petra so calm, yet almost boiling over with anger. Just as we were about to enter another awkward silence, Hokuto entered the cafeteria yet again without the annoying comedian. How did she manage to be a successful comedian again?

"She's out of the way now. Let's continue then, we have no time to waste." Hokuto informed us.

"Ah, lovely. I didn't think I could take another moment with her." Tio complained loudly.

"What are you all upset about? You were asleep the whole time." Ted looked at him incredulously.

"Eh. Good point. That reminds me. Back to sleep I go." Tio immediately shut his eyes once again.

"Oh! Hana!" Ryota came running up to me.

"Yeah, what do you need?" I tilted my head.

"Xiang wanted me to tell you when I was done setting up. I've done my part, so I'll go back to being his aide. I think Kiyomi wants you to help decorate, so good luck with that." Before I could reply, the actor had already returned to the kitchen.

Despite not really having a choice in what I was doing, I was happy. The atmosphere was pretty nice considering the circumstances. It kind of sucked that I had a bad sense of style so I would be horrid at decorating. Luckily for me, Kiyomi had a whole chart planned out for what went where. The entire cafeteria looked decent right now with a large banner hanging from the ceiling. The only other thing that had been put up was the giant "castle" that was a cardboard cut out. It was huge though, and slathered with light blue paint. It looked like the castle right before every Disney movie.

"Huh... This chart is kind of complicated, isn't it?" Ted was studying the chart intensely.

"Yeah, damn. Kiyomi sure thought this out." I muttered, quite impressed.

"I'm surprised she managed to make this gaudy bow look good." Ted held up a giant yellow bow that was definitely... well, gaudy.

"Oh, uck! That's so ugly! But it looks nice on the chart." I nodded, impressed once again.

"Everyone does have their own quirks, I guess." Ted smiled, and proceeded to tack up the giant bow.

"Hana, you're helping us decorate, right? Well the materials are in the cabinet by the door." Minato pointed to the large cabinet over on the other side of the room.

"Thanks, Minato!" I hurried off to the cabinet.

"Technically, we could save more space if we were to use this method..." I heard Isaac muttering to himself near the cabinet.

"Oh, excuse me Isaac. What have you got there?" I peered over his shoulder to see him holding two charts.

"This is my own interpretation of how the decorating should go. This other one is what Kiyomi wants. Kiyomi wants a ton of space reserved for things you just look at. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to just save space for the actual human beings attending the party? She is quite the airhead." Isaac explained to me.

"Ah..." I whispered, examining the two plans, "But Kiyomi's does look nicer..."

"So what? It's only logical that..." Isaac was cut off as Ryota appeared behind the two of them.

"Hm? Are we discussing a plan or something?" Ryota blinked innocently.

"Weren't you helping Xiang instead of interrupting me? Hm?" Isaac coldly glared at the poor actor.

"Oh- I'm sorry. Well, er, did you need some help? Yukira has run out of secret family recipes, so Petra is helping Xiang instead." Ryota explained nervously.

"Yeah. We were just explaining how apparently it's more logical to have more space for the guests instead of the decorations." I informed the confused Ultimate.

"Well... isn't more logical, though? There seems to be nothing incorrect about that argument to me. I sense no contradictions." Ryota blinked at me once again.

"You say that, but you haven't looked at the decorations Isaac planned." I pointed at the chart Isaac was holding.

"Oooh... Isaac. The theme is Disney, not blank desert." Ryota laughed.

"But it saves more room." Isaac retorted.

"We have plenty of room. It's more fun if there are some decorations anyways!" Ryota smiled and slapped my back good naturedly. He was about to smack Isaac's back as well, but decided against it and quickly turned away.

"Hana! Are you about done? What is with women and taking so long with such trivial things?" Minato sighed at me.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm on my way!" I said, grabbing an armful of decorations and almost tripping over myself.

We spent the rest of the day on making the party a great success. It was really hard to decorate a giant cafeteria with only the few of us, but we managed to get it done by the end of the day. We did an amazing job, if I do say so myself. Luckily, the wait was over and the party was starting early next morning. All I had to do was sleep, and then the best party ever was waiting for me. Smiling, I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Honestly, I didn't think my writing of Kiyomi's death was that convincing, haha! But you guys definitely picked up some things that made it fake. Yup, it was just Kiyomi faking it. She's a drama queen, after all.**

**the meme queen: You're certainly right, Mazuri definitely does seem like a first victim type. She might be, but she might not. Oooh! As her creator, of course you'd pick that up easily that she was faking it. She does like doing things just to get a reaction out of people, doesn't she? You'll see soon enough what's up with Atsuko, but she's certainly creepy.**

**ApexUtopia: melons-girl  
Pffffft. That's a hilarious way to put it, but nope! She was faking it. She sure has a flair for the dramatic. Oooh, I do try to even out the lines per chapter, sorry about that!**

**And really? That's quite interesting! I almost joined karate with my best friend as a child, but I started volleyball instead.**

**HeroinofDarkness: She's not, but she's quite a good character, yes! I like her a lot. Ahhh, Xiang's ideals are quite interesting to me. And Ryota and Petra? I wasn't expecting many to relate to Petra, so that's interesting! And of course it's nice to have a fun guy like Ryota around.**

**White Weasel: Yeah! She doesn't really seem like a first to go type, but she might be later on. Who knows? Mhm. Kiyomi sort of made the decision to rile everyone up last second, and it's surprising that so many of you caught onto that. That was the major point to prove it was kind of fake, honestly. That's really interesting, actually! Miki is great, yeah. She reminds me of my own friend as well, in fact.**

**DoctorTDespair: I decided to add a little more flair and excitement here, hehe! No motive, but one of the Ultimates already itching for murder? I wouldn't expect it, but it does make sense. I love writing the Free Time events! They're amazing since all these characters are so unique and interesting. Pfffft... Saying no to Koh was funny to write too. Why do I even put up the yes or no thing if Hana always says yes? That's the only time she'll say no though, probably.**

**Question: Would you rather go to Kiyomi's bitchin' party or Togami's bitchin' party? Personally, Kiyomi's seems more like my thing. I wouldn't want a pat down, just saying.**


	10. Get to Know the Characters

Since there are sixteen MBTI types, I thought I'd do a little chapter to let you get to know the cast. Some people are the same type, but I made it so each person is different. I'll put their real MBTI in parentheses next to it. Also, I've added other things such as Hogwarts house so you can understand the character even better. Note that I typed them based on my own personal preference, and I'm going to be honest, **most of them might be wrong**. I've even added Temperament type, though I have no idea how to tell so I literally took the test for every character. This chapter took a lot of work, but I hope it was worth it. For virtue, I basically pick one of the seven deadly sins that they are the least of. If a character has less description than the others, it's just simply that they don't need much explaining on why they'd fit in the certain category, not that I don't like them. Just a note: There are only four temperaments and yes I put the same thing for the ones that are the same okay.

tfw you did a ton of research on this chapter and you still are like wtf am I doing.

Note: The next chapter will be out pretty soon! It's in the process of being edited.

**HeroinofDarkness: **I didn't think I made her "death" that realistic, and you guys really did catch on quick! She's super fun to write about, though the other characters are getting real sick of her shenanigans. And yes, it was a NicoB reference!

**the meme queen: **Ahh, Kiyomi sure would do something dramatic like that just to see how people would react :') Ooooh, Komaedas in the group are always a threat, but we'll see.

**White Weasel: **I don't know what to do with this girl! She is so nonchalant about her fake death, ha. Hmmm~ The first death isn't too far off from now, maybe you all are tired of waiting? Or are you guys relieved? XD

**ApexUtopia: **Yes, I know why you call her that and I think it's hilarious. I can just imagine Yukira saying that (omg maybe I should put her saying it) and yeah! The first death isn't too far off now~ Hehe, of course Yukira is invited. She better be, or I'll have to smack Kiyomi.

**DoctorTDespair: **Mhm, Isaac doesn't exactly treat anyone nicely. Like at all tbh. Yeah, her joke was out of line, but she's definitely the type to not care how others feel during the spur of the moment. She likes riling people up, after all. And Mazuri hating on everyone is just how she is, but it might play into the plot ooooh~

The party is going to be a blast? hahahahahahahaha  
a blast  
sweats nervously  
I'm praying for these Ultimates rn.

* * *

**Hana Inoue - Ultimate Choreographer**

MBTI: INFP.

Hana seems to try to be a social butterfly, but she's honestly better when she keeps to herself. She likes people well enough, but she can't say she really likes hanging out with others as much as she likes dancing by herself or just being lazy and watching TV by herself. She really values alone time. Hana is an Intuitive person and thinks about the bigger picture instead of details. This comes into play with her choreographing, as she makes sure the whole set is nice and orderly instead of a single part. She's also a feeling person. She has a strong sense of mercy and is a pushover who gives more chances than necessary sometimes. There is obviously a limit and she will get pissed off at a certain point, but she's more lenient than most. She's also a Perceiving type. She dreams of possibilities and has her head in the clouds. She's optimistic and looks at the possibilities instead of what is usually realistic.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin. She's not particularly brave, though she doesn't get scared easily. She just doesn't have the strong bravery of a Gryffindor. She doesn't have the loyalty of a Hufflepuff either. She wishes she does, but she's kind of self-absorbed and cares the most about herself. She isn't particularly smart either. She gets good enough grades, but he cunning and ambitious nature makes her a Slytherin.

Faction: Erudite. Yes, she wouldn't be in Ravenclaw, but she'd be in Erudite, hear me out. She's smart enough, and Ravenclaw would definitely be second in her Hogwards House. She's far from selfless. She more smart than she is brave, and she's not the peaceful type as much as she hopes. And though she's a terrible liar, that doesn't stop her from trying to lie all the time.

Alignment: Chaotic Good. She has her heart in the right place, but she doesn't care what means she uses to get the desired result. She honestly doesn't care if she breaks rules if she feels that it'll work out in the end. She won't go to extremes to get what she wants, but she definitely will break rules. She has a strong sense of personal freedom and hates being pulled down.

Temperament: Phlegmatic. The phlegmatic temperament is fundamentally relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind. They are accepting and affectionate. They may be receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are consistent, relaxed, calm, rational, curious, and observant, qualities that make them good administrators. (It says she can be passive aggressive, but Hana isn't passive aggressive. She just says things as they come to her mind.)

Sin: Greed or Sloth. I'M GOING TO BE HONEST HERE. Hana is definitely DEFINITELY a greedy person because she's bitter about how she grew up in a poorer than average family and her family didn't give her all the things her friends had so she's always been bitter about it. HOWEVER, she knows what it's like to not have something you really want so she's also extremely generous, but only to those who need it. She's also extremely lazy and like... her ambition kind of counters it but like... it also doesn't... Like she's the friend that calls you at midnight to ask you what the homework was and you're like gODDAMMIT NOT AGAIN.

Virtue: Pride or Envy. She's not a prideful person, actually. She's used to saying sorry and doesn't like hurting other people's feelings. She is used to being a pushover and admitting she's wrong due to years upon years of her being wrong and wrong and wrong. She's also quite the confident person, so envy never really affects her.

* * *

**Petra Adamanteen - Ultimate Maid**

MBTI: ISTJ

Petra is an introvert and isn't even used to playing with other people her age as she has devoted most of her life to just working. She can keep up with people in a conversation, but she'd rather not. She can be inept with people's feelings as she's rude and blunt. Even if it's caring, she doesn't know how to deal with people. She's a S because she notices small details instead of the whole picture. This helps her as a maid since she noticed details and is quick to fix them. She is a T and a thinking type. She holds justice far higher than mercy and will not hesitate to slam the gavel of justice on a poor soul's fate. She thinks her way through situations rather than letting her emotions getting in the way of things. She is a J because she feels no need to think of the possibilities. She is a realistic thinker and doesn't let silly possibilities faze her.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin. While she's smart and could be a Ravenclaw, she's ambitious and cunning. Her Slytherin aspects definitely shine through as she's not afraid to speak her mind and be rude, but she's not evil as people think. She is brave and loyal, but that is trumped by her Slytherin aspects.

Faction: Candor. She's honest. She is brave, intelligent, and brave, but those elements don't shine as brightly as her honesty. Yeah, it's rude and blunt, but she's not lying(?)

Alignment: Lawful Neutral. She's a prideful person and holds her honor and tradition very high up. She is strict with order and will not hesitate to insult anyone in her path. She will get her order as soon as she can, and doesn't mind hurting other peoples' feelings to get that comfortable feeling of order. She has her own personal code.

Temperament: Choleric. The choleric temperament is fundamentally ambitious and leader-like. They have a lot of aggression, energy, and/or passion, and try to instill it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types (LMAO WELL HANA IS FUCKED). Many great charismatic military and political figures were choleric. They like to be in charge of everything. However, cholerics also tend to be either highly disorganized or highly organized. They do not have in-between setups, only one extreme to another. As well as being leader-like and assertive, cholerics also fall into deep and sudden depression. Essentially, they are very much prone to mood swings.

Sin: Pride or Wrath. She has a strong sense of pride. She knows when she's right or wrong, but she can't stand being wrong against people who she views as people who don't deserve respect. She knows she has room for improvement and won't refuse that. However, she really hates being wrong and that's just part of who she is. She wishes she could change it. In terms of wrath, it is probably more of her sin than pride, but I personally view Petra as a prideful person who wishes she wasn't. She's definitely a wrathful person. She doesn't care if she hurts your feelings and shows no mercy to people who don't deserve her respect. She doesn't play nice, nor beat around the bush. She's cruel, rude, and harsh. She doesn't know the meaning of sugar-coating. Not even in cooking because sugar is bad for your health, okay?

Virtue: Sloth or Greed. (Wow I'm starting to realize why Petra is like goddammit Hana every chapter. Her virutes are Hana's sins... how...) Petra is very very very ambitious and sloth is definitely not something she is. She works hard all the time. She's a workaholic and she KNOWS it. She also isn't greedy at all. She knows that money will probably corrupt her values and her values are something she holds dearly to her heart. She also is very grateful for what she has. She has an innate distrust for the wealthy due to them always thinking they are better than everyone else and would hate to stoop to that level, whether it is above her or not.

* * *

**Tio Kurogane - Ultimate Smuggler**

MBTI: ESTP

Tio is a somewhat friendly person. He doesn't like being alone over than hanging around other people. Although he seems like a lone ranger type, he's actually more of the type to be in some gang or something like that. He's definitely sneaky and holds himself over anyone else, but he doesn't mind working with others. Tio also is more detail oriented person and doesn't see the big picture until he's pieced together the picture bit by bit. He's not the most intelligent book-wise, but hey, he's crafty. He's also a thinking person. He doesn't let his emotions get the better of him, and shows no mercy to people who aren't himself. He cares little for others and if justice is served, that makes him feel better than if someone gets off the hook or something. Unless if it's himself. He's one for possibilities. He doesn't have his head in the clouds, but he likes thinking big. He can plan heists and be crafty in this way. After all, he's the type to make possibilities a reality.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin. Apparently, that's a running theme, but Tio is definitely a Slytherin. Sure, he's brave, but he's cunning and ambitious. He's one to put himself above others and is quick to make things happen in his favor. His ambition is for himself only. He's a crafty one. He's not a smuggler for nothing, you know.

Faction: Factionless or Dauntless. He's a thug and he grew up as a factionless type person. He'd definitely be a factionless when he gets older, but he's also possibly a dauntless in his youth. He's very brave and is more of a person who thinks of the rewards than the consequences and that's what fuels his recklessness. Luckily enough for him, he's crafty and never gets caught.

Alignment: Chaotic Evil. He only cares for himself and maybe a potential love interest. He doesn't care if he breaks laws or other people to get what he wants. He holds his life way above the life of others and the few people he cares about get a special treatment, but that's it. He just likes the thrill of living and doesn't think that he needs to be held down by the rules. He's a huge troublemaker, but he doesn't care.

Temperament: Choleric. The choleric temperament is fundamentally ambitious and leader-like. They have a lot of aggression, energy, and/or passion, and try to instill it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. Many great charismatic military and political figures were choleric. They like to be in charge of everything. However, cholerics also tend to be either highly disorganized or highly organized. They do not have in-between setups, only one extreme to another. As well as being leader-like and assertive, cholerics also fall into deep and sudden depression. Essentially, they are very much prone to mood swings. (RIP in pieces, Hana. Yes. Rest in pieces in pieces...)

Sin: Greed. That's obvious, he loves money, money, and money. He's not above any nasty trick to get the money he wants, he's a smuggler! He'll steal, cheat, and lie his way through the path of wealth and doesn't care who he hurts to get there. As long as he's rolling in case, does it really matter who's bankrupt because of him? Okay... Fine... It kind of does matter. He won't steal from the poor, but there's always rich people to cheat money out of.

Virtue: Literally nothing. Maybe Sloth? Like he's ambitious, but he's lazy whenever he wants so. He's arrogant, greedy, gets envious of things he wants. Maybe he's not gluttonous...? He doesn't hesitate to show wrath and lust isn't something he's against so there's like nothing honestly. Goddammit Tio.

* * *

**Mazuri Okayama - Ultimate Magician**

MBTI: ISTP

Mazuri is definitely an introvert. She hates people. Like... she straight up hates people. She doesn't enjoy any second with anyone except for maybe a very very very limited amount of people. She doesn't like making friends and isn't good at it. She can be a poor lonely child because of this, but she just straight up doesn't like people so you feel bad for her but also don't. She looks for the smaller details in things instead of the bigger picture. Yes, in the end, her magic tricks turn out spectacular, but she needs to have every detail right to get to that point so her S part in her personality is beneficial to her tricky hobby. She's also a thinking type person. Sometimes she can have her feelings lead her actions, but that's really only with social interaction. Other than that, she usually lets her logical explanation guide her next move. She's a possibilities person and is always thinking of new possibilities. Nobody can deny that she's certainly creative. She's a magician, how can she not think of the possibilities? Magic is her thing, and not lots of people believe in magic, so...

Hogwarts House: Slytherin. (wow there's certainly a running gag somewhere here). She's cunning and ambitious. She's a crafty one, not necessarily smart. She is smart enough though. She's loyal to herself only and isn't known for being brave.

Faction: ? She might be factionless, but it's not very easy to determine her faction. She's not particularly brave, and while she's smart, she wouldn't fit in with the Erudites. She's far from peaceful, selfless, or honest so... She's closest to factionless honestly.

Alignment: Chaotic Evil. She only cares for herself and doesn't care if she breaks the rules. She loves getting a cheap laugh, even at the expense of someone's pain. She really doesn't care if someone is hurt, as long as she can get a good hearty laugh out of it. She doesn't like people holding her down and thinks that her freedom and expressing herself is wayyy more important than keeping the rules intact. Breaking the rules is an every day thing for her.

Temperament: Choleric. My first three accepted wow I just why... The choleric temperament is fundamentally ambitious and leader-like. They have a lot of aggression, energy, and/or passion, and try to instill it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. Many great charismatic military and political figures were choleric. They like to be in charge of everything. However, cholerics also tend to be either highly disorganized or highly organized. They do not have in-between setups, only one extreme to another. As well as being leader-like and assertive, cholerics also fall into deep and sudden depression. Essentially, they are very much prone to mood swings. (HANA IS LIKE DEAD AT THIS POINT HONESTLY.)

Sin: Pride. She is so full of pride and thinks people are just below her. She thinks that lots of people are just so below her that she shouldn't even need to take time out of her day to talk to them. She's so used to getting her way and she's just a bratty little punk. She hates admitting she's wrong and probably hasn't done it in her entire life. If you just slightly mess with her plans, she will get pissed off. She thinks the world revolves around her or something.

Virtue: Greed. She's not particularly generous, but growing into a rich family prevents her from being greedy. Of course she's grateful for money, but she wouldn't scam people out of it unless she'd get a laugh out of it. She just never was in need of money, so she doesn't know what it was like to be poor or to have that itching sense of greed.

* * *

**Minato Morisato - Ultimate Psychologist**

MBTI: INTP

You'd think that Minato was good with people since he knows their habits from being a psychologist. However, he'd much rather observe people from a distance than get close to them. He is quick to be annoyed by people who he deems unintelligent, which is mostly everyone. Bonus! He also doesn't like women, so that's like 50%+ of social interaction down the drain. He thinks of the bigger picture because he observes people as a whole instead of little individual parts of a person. Yes, little things are needed to see what makes a person who they are, but a bigger picture is how Minato interprets things. He's also a thinking person. He holds justice above mercy and doesn't let his emotions (since he practically has none like all the time) control how he acts. He logically thinks about things and always tries to be rational. However, that is hard for him because he dreams of the possibilities. He tries to be rational and think logically, but he can't help that he wishes things are different. He wishes and dreams of things that aren't realistic, but when push comes to shove, he knows to think with a good head on his shoulders.

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw. He could possibly be a Slytherin, but he's not that cunning, nor ambitious. He has the traits, but he wit shines brighter than any other of the house traits. He's incredibly intelligent and values realistic thinking and logical paths of thought.

Faction: Erudite. He's an Erudite and Ravenclaw. Smart and smart.

Alignment: Neutral or Lawful Evil. He's not the type to take sides or take initiative in things that do not concern him. For example, if someone was being robbed, he wouldn't put his own life in danger to help someone who he doesn't even know. He's neutral in his thinking and just doesn't take any sides. He doesn't care if he breaks rules, but he'd also rather not. For his Lawful Evil side, he admittedly cares for himself over strangers, which isn't unnatural. He's not really willing to risk himself for others. He can accept and respect authority that deserves it though. He doesn't care for himself over _anything, _so he's not completely Lawful Evil.

Temperament: Melancholic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

* * *

**Mika Sakuraba - Ultimate Debater**

MBTI: ENTJ

Mika could really be introverted or extroverted. It depends, really. She likes being around people and also likes being around only herself. However, she generally is a kinda soul and would rather be with others than being by her lonesome unless she's immersed in a good novel. She looks at things from a broad point of view. She can view all sorts of arguments and the big picture of the whole story. That's really really helpful in her debating. She also is a logical thinker and doesn't usually let her emotions get ahold of her actions. She is also very realistic in her thinking. If her debating opponent was to catch wind of her trailing off the logical path, it'd be an instant loss for her so she has to always remain logical in her thinking. Although she loves the possibilities, she knows what's realistic and what is not.

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw. She's an intelligent debater. She's not particularly brave, and she's somewhat loyal. Her loyalty doesn't trump her intelligence though. She's also not very cunning or tricky.

Faction: Erudite. She's smart.

Alignment: Neutral Good. Since she's smarter than most authority, she isn't really that afraid to bend the rules. However, she doesn't shatter the rules. She knows if the outcome is greater than the consequence and she knows how to maneuver through events so the least possible tragedies occur. Even if she does bend a rule, she can weasel her way out of punishment since it's basically always justified. She has a good sense of heart and does what's right. Rarely does she ever get in trouble, but she does have the habit of playing the devil's advocate, but only to present the opposing side's argument and blasting through that.

Temperament: Phlegmatic. The phlegmatic temperament is fundamentally relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind. They are accepting and affectionate. They may be receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are consistent, relaxed, calm, rational, curious, and observant, qualities that make them good administrators.

Sin: Mika is kind of like an angel so none really stick out. Pride for her work, maybe?

Virtue: Literally all of them. Mika Sakuraba is an angel, I repeat, Mika Sakuraba is an angel. If I had to give her only one, I'd say Sloth. She's very ambitious and hard working.

* * *

**Miki Hinamori - Ultimate Pianist**

MBTI: ENFP

Miki wants to make friends even if she can't. Yeah, playing piano by herself is nice and all, but she hates the feeling of loneliness since she knows it all too well. She just wants people to love her, but refuses to change her tsundere and bratty attitude. She's also good at looking at the whole picture. She loves picturing music as stories and imagining what is going on in the music as she plays elegantly. She's definitely a feeling person. She lets her emotions guide what she does. She is a somewhat emotional person. When she's upset, she will take it out on others. When she's happy, she is noticeably nicer. She's also one to dream of possibilities. She's a pianist and loves thinking of just dreamy scenarios of winning award after award or something like that.

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff. She's impossibly loyal to the friends who had even betrayed her. She loves her friends, and hates the feeling of betrayal since she's not the type to betray someone else. She isn't particularly brave, smart, nor cunning either. She has ambitions, but they aren't big enough that she'd push others aside for her own dreams.

Faction: Candor. She's honest. Brutally honest, but she's an honest person.

Alignment: Chaotic Good. She has a high sense of freedom and hates being held down. She does the right thing most of the time and is a good person in general. However, she's not above breaking the rules or justifying them to herself to get what she wants. She doesn't think before she acts and can be really immature with her actions since she's so young. However, she has her heart in the right place.

Temperament: Phlegmatic. The phlegmatic temperament is fundamentally relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind. They are accepting and affectionate. They may be receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are consistent, relaxed, calm, rational, curious, and observant, qualities that make them good administrators. They can also be passive-aggressive.

Sin: Pride. She has high pride and won't back down from a fight even when she knows she's wrong. She's immature in this sense, but she hates being wrong. She refuses to admit it and can be terrifyingly stubborn. She can be just a bratty child sometimes since she is just barely in high school.

Virtue: Sloth. She's a hardworker at what she likes and she really can be working her butt off on the piano.

* * *

**Ryota Morimoto - Ultimate Actor**

MBTI: ENFJ

Ryota is a social person and would much rather be with other people than be lonely and by himself. He loves the company of others and relishes being in it after being alone for long periods of time. He looks at things in a big picture and actually doesn't have the greatest attention for detail. He likes the stories and entirety of shows or jokes. He lets his emotions control how he acts. He's quick to panic in dire situations and will act really fidgety. Despite being smart, he'll start to panic and even if he's rehearsed line after line, he can get really panicked and forget everything when put on the spot. He's a logical thinker and doesn't think of the possibilities since he thinks it's a waste of time and would much rather be realistic on things.

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff. He's a very loyal person when he gets attached to someone. While he is a bit nerdy, he doesn't fit in with the Ravenclaws. He's not cunning or ambitious and is FAR away from being a brave as a Gryffindor.

Faction: Amity. He's a peaceful sort of person and really hates getting in the middle of conflicts. He's not brave, and while he's a nerd, he still doesn't fit in with the Erudites. He's honest most of the time, but if it will benefit him, he's really not above lying. And he's not exactly selfless either since he can be kind of arrogant and care for himself over others.

Alignment: Lawful Good. He's a goody two shoes who is too scared of breaking the law. Sure, he'll definitely do good things and sides with the good guys in all the comics he reads, but if a robbery were to take place in front of him... Good luck whoever is getting robbed... Ryota wouldn't help them since he's just so impossibly scared of the consequences and would rather protect himself.

Temperament: Sanguine. People with this temperament tend to be lively, sociable, carefree, talkative, and pleasure-seeking. They may be warm-hearted and optimistic. They can make new friends easily, be imaginative and artistic, and often have many ideas. They can be flighty and changeable; thus sanguine personalities may struggle with following tasks all the way through and be chronically late or forgetful.

Sin: Pride. He's really arrogant at times and thinks he's above people at times due to being a celebrity. He's not the worst about it, but he forgets that he's just a high school student sometimes.

Virtue: Greed. Since he's a well-known actor, he gets paid pretty well. He's never been in poverty or anything, and doesn't know what greed really feels like since he's never really needed money.

* * *

**Atsuko Koyanagi - Ultimate Comedian**

MBTI: ESFJ (ESFP)

Atsuko is a friendly person and loves trying to crack jokes and making people laugh. Herself, mostly, but laughing is always good fun for her. She hates confinement and refuses to be left alone in a small place all by herself. It's terrible and horrible. Confinement is one of the worst things ever to her. Atsuko is the type to be amused really really easily. She pays attention to details and little things can make her burst out into a fit of giggles. She appreciates the small things that can be very creative. She also lets her emotions guide her. She doesn't particularly think logically, well, ever. She just goes with the flow and does what her gut tells her to do. She's also a dreamer. She believes in silly things and thinks of possibilities rather than things that are right in front of her face and definitely realistic.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin. While she's not the most ambitious, she's very cunning and tricky. She's probably the craftiest person you'll ever meet, but since there's Tio and Mazuri in the same Hope's Peak year as her, she doesn't seem as bad as she really is.

Faction: Factionless or Dauntless. Honestly she'd be in real trouble if she weren't so funny.

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral. She's not evil, nor is she good. She just does things that she finds funny. She follows her heart into a path of just laughs and giggles. There have been plenty of times where she's pranked people and they ended up having a negative result, and there have been times where it revealed a positive result. Either way, it didn't matter to Atsuko because she laughed throughout all of it.

Temperament: Sanguine. People with this temperament tend to be lively, sociable, carefree, talkative, and pleasure-seeking. They may be warm-hearted and optimistic. They can make new friends easily, be imaginative and artistic, and often have many ideas. They can be flighty and changeable; thus sanguine personalities may struggle with following tasks all the way through and be chronically late or forgetful.

Sin: Wrath. She has no problem hurting other people if it benefits her. She's ready to let someone off to their death if it means she'll even get just a small giggle. She doesn't care for other much or even at all you could say.

Virtue: Pride. She doesn't really care if she's wrong or not because she's just so carefree and laughs at her own mistakes. Even in a class trial, she might bring up stupid points just to agitate people and when they point out that she's being stupid, she'll simply laugh at their reaction. She could care less if she's wrong or not.

* * *

**Yukira Kisaragi - Ultimate Aristocrat**

MBTI: ESFP

Yukira is extroverted and doesn't really like being alone. Yes, she can be quiet and really does enjoy introverted things such as reading, writing, and playing piano, she has led a life of mainly loneliness and wants to change that. She doesn't like the lack of social interaction she grew up with. She even purposely volunteered just so she could get out of the house once in a while. Yukira has an expert eye for detail. She knows something interesting or creative as soon as she sees it. Her attention to detail is quite impressive, but she's bad at gluing the pieces together into a big picture. Yukira is led by her feelings. She's a smart person, but she really is a person who is more biased towards mercy than justice. She can't help it when her feelings guide her actions. She is one for possibilities. Fantasy books are among one of her top genres to read and she's always imagined a life outside of her castle. She loves thinking outside the box for things that aren't too realistic, but she's optimistic and has hope.

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. She's extremely loyal, but she's also a confident and stern young lady. She can think rationally and since she's so full of curiosity, bravery is just a trait that comes with it. She can get into mischief because of it, but she smart enough to protect herself. She's an elegant sort of person, so it makes sense that she'd be one of those curious Gryffindors that narrowly miss trouble every single time.

Faction: She's actually all of them, honestly. She'd make the best Divergent lead role ever. She's as brave as a Dauntless, as intelligent as an Erudite, as selfless as an Abnegation, as honest as a Candor, and as peaceful as an Amity.

Alignment: Neutral Good. She's used to having rules to make her seem like the high class aristocrat she was, but if she wanted to break some of the rules, she could. Her parents wouldn't get too mad, as long as the deed she did wasn't too bad. She is a good person and wants to do good for the world, so she won't mind bending the rules a bit to do good things. However, she knows where her boundaries are and won't go bounding past them just to do something little.

Temperament: She can be all of them but Melancholic. She's very amiable and is well liked by others which is a trait that Sanguine people hold. She's a confident leader who can be strict, but knows how to lead. She's a go getter and can get things done when they need to with lots of passion which is a Choleric trait. She also can be quiet and enjoys relaxing with a good book. She's calm, private, and relaxed as a person which makes her Phlegmatic as well.

Sin: Honestly she's such a cinnamon roll that I can't assign her a sin. I just can't. If I had to... I guess... maybe pride? Since she's going to be the next head of the Kisaragi family, she needs to hold up her name or something.

Virtue: Literally everything bless you Yukira bless. I'd say Sloth. She's really a hardworking and pushes to get things that she wants.

* * *

**Hokuto Leal - Ultimate Hitman**

MBTI: ISFJ

Hokuto is kind of introverted and is more quiet than an outgoing ball of sunshine. He'd rather spend time alone reading or something than being out with others. This doesn't mean that he doesn't like other people, and enjoys social interaction once in a while, but he needs to rest after interacting with other for a while. He has a really sharp eye for detail and can notice things very easily. As a hitman, he has to take things out very easily and quickly to avoid being caught so being so detail oriented is nice. He lets his feelings guide him as a person. He has lots of mercy and is actually a super sweet person who can sometimes be a pushover and give out a chance more than a person deserves. He might seem cold, but he'll warm up eventually. Hokuto goes for the realistic side of things rather than the possibilities since he just feels like realistic things are more... realistic to pursue.

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. He's loyal throughout every last bone in his body, but he's also very brave. He has to be courageous in his line of work, and knows that it's better to be confident in his abilities rather than hesitate. Hesitation is a second the enemy has to outwit you, and that's usually enough time. He's a bit curious about the world as well, but not as much as Yukira.

Faction: Amity. Although he's very selfless, honest, and brave, his peaceful nature shines the brightest. He hates conflict and wishes that people just didn't have to die. He is willing to put up with a lot to have the most peaceful life for himself as well as the people he loves.

Alignment: Neutral Good or Lawful Neutral. Hokuto has a strong sense of justice and is willing to do a lot to make sure good happens throughout the world. He's not willing to completely break all the rules, but he's sort of like a vigilante. He's willing the bend the rules a bit so he can help those in need. He's very unselfish and is okay with working with people like the cops, unless they're the bad guys then who knows. He is a Lawful Neutral because he believes in honor and tradition and is a very trustworthy person. He is like one of those samurai from Japan who holds the code of bushido up high. He's very chivalrous as well. However, he knows what he's doing and is quick to take charge with his own personal code instead of letting some police officer slow him down.

Temperament: Melancholic or Phlegmatic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others. The phlegmatic temperament is fundamentally relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind. They are accepting and affectionate. They may be receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are consistent, relaxed, calm, rational, curious, and observant, qualities that make them good administrators.

Sin: Wrath. When it comes to people who have truly done cruel things to the world, he will not hesitate to bring justice to them. Even if they only were to get a few years in jail, Hokuto might actually want them to get the death sentence. He hates death, but he doesn't really think scum like that should be allowed out just in case they strike again. (This rarely happens for him to get so mad, but there's no other sin that fits him as well.)

Virtue: Gluttony. He has lots of self control and is good at prohibiting himself from indulging things he wants if they're bad for him.

* * *

**Koh Obata - Ultimate Linguist**

MBTI: INFJ

Koh is introverted and would much rather be alone with a book than be out partying. He likes people well enough, unlike Mazuri, but he just needs time to recharge after too much social interaction. He has an intuitive type personality and observes things as a whole. He's very observant and watches other people closely to determine how they are. He never gets the little things about people, but he has a good judge of the whole character. He lets his emotions tell him what to do. He knows that he should be a logical thinker since he's smart and all, but he can't help that his emotions control him. He's also a realistic thinker and thinks that it's a waste of time for him to be thinking of the possibilities since he won't amount to much, but he encourages others to be optimistic and think of the possibilities. He's not very confident and doesn't believe in himself.

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw.

Faction: Erudite

Alignment: Neutral. He doesn't have a strong sense of justice, nor does he really have much mercy. He just lets things go around him and almost never takes initiative in anything. He doesn't want to get himself into any trouble.

Temperament: Melancholic or Phlegmatic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others. The phlegmatic temperament is fundamentally relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind. They are accepting and affectionate. They may be receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are consistent, relaxed, calm, rational, curious, and observant, qualities that make them good administrators.

Sin: Envy. He's envious of other people and holds himself to a lower regard than he would hold other people. He has a slight inferiority complex, and doesn't blame others for the envy he feels. However, he can't help but feel envious towards certain things.

Virtue: He's not prideful at all and actually doesn't really like himself as much as he should. His inferior complex isn't as bad as Fukawa's, but it's still present. Due to this, he will back down at certain arguments and believe he is wrong even if he is right.

* * *

**Ted Sakamoto - Ultimate Boxer**

MBTI: ISFP

Ted is introverted and likes being by himself a lot of the time. He likes people a lot, but they'll overwhelm him. He just needs alone time once in a while. His attention to detail is impressive and he uses it to help him box better. Certain movements indicate other movements, so he's quick on his toes and quick to notice things like that. He lets his feelings guide him, especially when he is angry. He's an aggressive person and will lash out at people if he is angry. He is a believer and a dreamer of bigger and better things. He doesn't like being too realistic as it might hold him down. He wants to see the biggest possibility and achieve it.

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor. He's really courageous and not one to back from a fight. He's curious about things and is someone who will get things done. He might get in trouble since he can be impulsive and brash, but that's just how some Gryffindors can be.

Faction: Dauntless or Candor. He's very courageous. He's also extremely honest. He doesn't find any use to lying and can be blunt with his words. He can be dense and not know how his words affect other people, but he straight up says what he's thinking.

Alignment: Chaotic Good. He has a strong sense of justice and will do lots of stupid things just so someone innocent will get what they deserve. He is quick to pick fights with people he deems as bad, and can get into a lot of trouble. He doesn't think before he acts at times like these and will be reckless in how he gets his justice. But as long as justice is served, he doesn't care about most of the consequences.

Temperament: Melancholic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

Sin: Wrath. He is quick to deal judgement on others. He doesn't have much mercy if you hurt someone he loves.

Virtue: Sloth. He's a hard worker and strives to always do his best. He even pushes himself too far at times.

* * *

**Isaac Tsukino - Ultimate Philosopher**

MBTI: INTJ

Isaac can't really say he likes people, and he's not afraid to admit it. Most people he meets are so stupid that he just can't talk to them. Most people are annoying, rude, arrogant, or just plain stupid. Isaac can't deal with people like this. There are few people Isaac can tolerate at all. He's also an intuitive sort of person, though he notices literally everything because he's just observant. He observes rather than talks and is an excellent judge of character. He's a thinking person and doesn't let his emotions get the best of him. He'll scoff at people who can't control their own emotions, stating that it's their emotion, why can't they control it? He's not reckless at all and makes strategic moves with everything he does. He's also a realistic person. Shockingly realistic, he'll even straight up tell people that they're being unrealistic if they are. He doesn't care for dreaming of the possibilities.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin.

Faction: Erudite

Alignment: Knowledgeable Neutral

Temperament: Melancholic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

Sin: Pride. He thinks he's above others, and it's pretty true. He knows he's right and even though he's not one to boast, he doesn't like it when stupid people think that they're right when he's obviously right. He likes putting people in their place and letting everyone know that he is probably smarter than they'll ever be -cue fake smile-

Virtue: Envy. He's not really envious of anyone and just thinks he's at a level where he's good enough to not need to envy what others have.

* * *

**Xiang Li - Ultimate Warrior**

MBTI: ESTJ (ISTJ)

Xiang is very quiet and keeps to himself, but he can be sociable and is a very nice person. Anyone would probably take a liking to him and he has the big brother vibe since he takes care of others constantly. He's an observant person and notices details, especially on a battlefield or something. He's a calm person and is levelheaded. He isn't reckless at all and thinks before he acts. He also wants to be a dreamer, but he knows realistic things are nicer to pursue as they are actually... realistic.

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. More Hufflepuff since he's literally the most loyal person, like, ever. But he has the courageous qualities of a Gryffindor, even if he'll deny it.

Faction: Abnegation or Amity. He's very selfless and will almost always put others before himself. He values others higher than himself, because he feels like they're worth a lot more. He doesn't necessarily have an inferiority complex, but he's just a nice guy. He's also all for peace and hates conflict a lot. He does whatever he can to prevent it.

Alignment: Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral. He has a lot of honor and has a strong sense of duty. He accomplishes things that he believes he was meant to do without hesitation, even if it is something he doesn't want to do. His Lawful Neutral side is that he follows traditions to a T and likes having order. Since he's known as the one man army, he can control himself instead of letting others tell him what to do. Because of this, he has his own personal code. He's very strict on himself to follow this code. He's chivalrous and has traits of bushido.

Temperament: Melancholic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

Sin: Literally nothing Xiang is a cinnamon roll so yeah. Envy, maybe.

Virtue: eVERYTHING XIANG IS SO NICE I JUST

* * *

**Kiyomi Hasgawa - Ultimate Reality TV Star**

MBTI: ENTP

Kiyomi is definitely a social person. She loves hanging around other people and having praise from others. She's used to everyone fawning over her celebrity status and expects people to do it, and is a bit put off that the other Ultimates are cool too and don't praise her like she's used to. She looks at things through a big picture and is actually pretty smart. People might think she's ditzy, but she might be actually able to piece things together quicker than others. She isn't the most calm person, but she thinks logically and isn't an overly emotional person even though she acts super dramatic to get a rise out of others. She's a believer of bigger and better things. She dreams of being the most famous person every and have people fawning for her left and right.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin. She's more cunning than you'll ever know, and she sure can work for the things she wants when she wants it. However, she can also be a Gryffindor because she's kind of fearless since she doesn't understand most consequences.

Faction: Factionless or Candor. She's brutally honestly and doesn't know how badly her words can affect others. She can also be factionless and she'd be in trouble if she didn't wing it in the entertainment business.

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral. She doesn't care about good or evil. She just cares about having fun and doing her own dramatic thing. She just takes care of herself and doesn't care about the other people around her. She just follows her own heart. For example, she can play a prank on people by pretending to freaking die and it'll be bad, but she'll get joy out of it. And then again she can plan a party where everyone is happy. She doesn't care either way, as long as she's happy.

Temperament: Choleric. The choleric temperament is fundamentally ambitious and leader-like. They have a lot of aggression, energy, and/or passion, and try to instill it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. Many great charismatic military and political figures were choleric. They like to be in charge of everything. However, cholerics also tend to be either highly disorganized or highly organized. They do not have in-between setups, only one extreme to another. As well as being leader-like and assertive, cholerics also fall into deep and sudden depression. Essentially, they are very much prone to mood swings.

Sin: Pride. She thinks she deserves to be worshiped. It's not at a terrible level, but she's definitely on a level of arrogant that she really shouldn't be on. She hates it when people challenge her and hates it when she's proven wrong.

Virtue: Gluttony. She has a lot of self-control and a lot of her life, well, just revolves around herself. She's vain and likes to keep up with appearances, so she knows when she should stop eating or indulging herself in anything.


	11. Kiyomi's Bitchin' Party

I woke up at the morning announcement. It was annoying to adjust to, but I was starting to get a hang of this weird school life. It wasn't all bad. Sure, some of these guys were weird, but they weren't _murderers _so I was okay with them. I got ready as fast as I usually did, and was out the door in no time. There was a certain lightness to my step. I knew it was because I was ready for an amazing party. Also I needed to make more friends in this place because honestly, I was starting to get lonely.

"Oh, you're here the earliest again." Petra smiled at me as I entered the cafeteria. I gave her a curt nod and greeting, before staring at awe at the cafeteria.

With the help of Kiyomi's chart, we had successfully transformed the somewhat average cafeteria into a completely Disney themed party. The kitchen was designed to look like Tiana's kitchen from Princess and the Frog. The ceiling of the actual cafeteria was designed to look like the tower Rapunzel had been trapped in during the events of Tangled. The stage had a glass slipper on the steps leading to it. A bell tower stood in the distance and was stuck at midnight. There was a giant pumpkin carriage near the front of the steps. How we got these materials, I will never know.

"It's quite impressive, is it not?" Petra gazed at the decorations.

"Yeah..." I muttered in awe.

"You should see the things Xiang managed to whip up. In fact, let's start getting the food out from the fridge." Petra led me towards the kitchen.

Petra and I had a pleasant conversation as we set up the food. We worked slowly, waiting for the others to file in. As they joined us, they helped us set up as well. Everyone seemed to be pretty happy and in high spirits as we joked around and generally just got to know each other better.

"Hm. That's odd. The only two that haven't arrived yet are Kiyomi and Mazuri." Minato noticed.

"I swear, if I have to go drag Mazuri out of her room, I will." Petra muttered.

"It makes sense that Mazuri isn't here yet, but Kiyomi is late for her own party." Yukira tilted her head.

Suddenly, the lights shut off. After a scream or two, a pink spotlight flickered on. It pointed directly at the Cinderella pumpkin carriage. The door to the carriage opened with a dramatic pause, and out stepped our very own reality TV star. She strolled out on the red carpet that she had laid out for herself and did a jazz hands pose as she approached us.

"One for flashy appearances, isn't she?" Ryota asked himself, amused.

"It's really annoying." Minato rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of annoying. I'm going to get Mazuri. I'll be right back." Petra stalked off.

True to her word, the maid stomped back into the cafeteria not too long later. She was dragging the young magician by her shirt, and the magician was shrieking and stomping. She continued to wail until Petra promptly let go of her.

"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my mother. I can get my own way if I want, and I want!" Mazuri blubbered like a child.

"You think everything revolves around you! Just because I got into the way of your plans of being a miserable person doesn't mean you should be so rude. This is going to be good for you, so just do as you're told!" Petra yelled.

Mazuri instantly shut up, and she looked a bit hurt When she noticed that everyone was staring at her, she flinched and turned away. She then proceeded to glare at every person she could, but she definitely looked on edge. She looked more uncomfortable than I had ever seen her.

"Hey, Mazuri." I started, but she jumped in surprise.

"Hana! You idiot, get back!" Mazuri practically shrieked.

"Huh? What's wrong?" I stepped back quickly.

"N-Nothing. I just don't want your peasant self near me." She stuttered, obviously lying.

"What's wrong?" I tried to let her know that I was genuinely worried.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Mazuri stiffened.

"Well, the point of the party is to try to get to know people so I-" I trailed off.

"I... I don't want, nor need friends." She then smiled eerily and stalked off.

"W...What was that all about?" Ryota appeared by my side, obviously a bit scared.

"Were you listening in this entire time?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"You could say that. But I noped out once she got all creepy. What's with her and people in general anyways?" Ryota shrugged, as if answering his own question.

"That's definitely odd. She's obviously socially inept. Instead of getting over her inability, she chooses to keep herself away from any sort of social interaction." Isaac evaluated quickly, "Something that Petra obviously is not fond of. Petra likes it when people know that they have room for improvement, does she not?" Damn. This guy was spot on about everything. I'm 100% sure he hadn't spent as much time with Petra as I had (or even at all), yet he picked up something up about her quicker than I could.

"I feel bad for her... Even though she tries to act all high and mighty, she still is pretty young..." I muttered.

"It's her own decision that gets her where she ends up. Just remember that." Isaac reminded me.

"I feel bad for her." I repeated.

Suddenly, a shriek came from the dining table. Miki was running back and forth, desperately fanning at her tongue. It looked like she either ate something she was allergic to, or something that was much spicier than she had intended to eat. Mika was quickly by her side, and offered her a glass a water. The pianist snatched it out of her friend's hand and gulped it down easily.

"Hehehehehehehe! Your reaction is so funny! That was one of my best tricks yet!" Mazuri laughed loudly, and high-fived the cackling Atsuko beside her.

"What... What did you do, you bitch?!" Miki asked funnily, due to her pinching her nose shut.

"Ohhh, nothing special~" Mazuri continued to laugh, twirling a bottle of wasabi between her fingers.

"Are you serious? Do you really inflict harm on others just to get a good laugh?" Mika looked more pissed off than I'd ever seen her.

"Whatever, stuffy debater. This is boring. Not a party at all." Mazuri pretended to yawn.

"Tio! Wake up, you're the only one who can out punk this brat." Ted slammed his hand next to the sleeping smuggler. However, he didn't wake up.

"Hah! You want to wake him up? Don't worry Ted, I've gotcha!" Mazuri smirked, then proceeded to shove the bottle of wasabi into Tio's gaping wide mouth.

"Pbbbfffft!" The smuggler woke with a start.

"Well! It looks like my job here is done. I guess I have to mingle with you losers now... Ugh." Mazuri suddenly looked downcast and disappeared into the kitchen.

"I really... really want to strangle her." Miki's threat still sounded a bit funky.

"Guys, let's just ignore her. We'll be okay." Mika sighed with annoyance.

"We can have a fun time on our own." Hokuto nodded in affirmation.

"Yes! It is Mazuri who is missing out. And as they say... ahem... I'm ready to partayyyy!" Yukira giggled.

"Yeah, who cares about her cruddy attitude? We'll be okay." Ted smiled with enthusiasm.

"Let's make the best of this gathering, shall we?" Xiang clapped once loudly, and we all cheered.

People started to mingle with each other and it seemed as if most of us were having a good time. I noticed Mazuri in the corner muttering to herself. She didn't seem to be paying much attention to the deck of cards in her hands as she muttered while glaring off at nothing. However, she managed to shuffle them at a lightning pace.

"Hiya, Mazuri! Plan on performing a trick for us?" I took a deep breath and tried being as amiable as I could to ease her social ineptness.

"I don't have time for you, idiot! I mean... you're not even interested in me." Mazuri stammered awkwardly.

"Wow... You're sure, uh, different in a social setting. You're usually kind of arrogant and seem bigger than you are when you aren't forced to be social." Words tumbled out of my mouth as soon as they came to my brain.

"Excuse you? That's not true at all! Fine, you want your damn magic trick? I guess it'd take less time for me to do a magic trick and get you off my back." Mazuri instantly slammed her hand down on the cards and they flew into my face.

"Pbbbfffffft—" I spluttered with my eyes closed, and opened them slowly when I felt no cards pelting my face.

Mazuri had her eyes shut and seemed to be murmuring something while crossing her fingers. I stared at her for a good thirty seconds without saying anything. Mazuri then started to unfurl from her tense position and slowly blinked her eyes open.

"Fuck! I was hoping my magic trick would be if I could make an annoying idiot disappear, but it didn't work!" Mazuri spat.

I look at her with a face filled with mock pain and sarcastically stated, "I don't know... what I did... to deserve this... I'm like, such a nice person. I'm SUCH a good friend!"

"You know, I doubt you can really disappear from yourself, but that's certainly debatable. A nice topic for a philosophical debate." Isaac stated nonchalantly, and walked away just as quickly as he had arrived.

"Um." Xiang finally stated after the whole room had gone silent.

"Anyways! Why don't we, erm, see a magic trick then?" Mika laughed awkwardly.

"You bring up a good point, Mika. Why don't we see what you can do?" Petra looked at Mazuri and gestured toward the stage.

Mazuri flinched, before putting on a defiant look, "Prepare to be blown away."

"Do you need an assistant or something?" I followed her.

"No!" Mazuri instantly snapped, "I don't need a stupid assistant!"

"Oh! Alright then..." I backed away slowly with my hands up in defense... just in case, you know.

Mazuri sighed and fidgeted a lot before doing anything. The entire room was hung in silence. When she didn't start for a while, there were coughs that were obviously faked. I started shuffling around. I can't stand still in silence for long.

"Would ya hurry it up already?" Tio finally shouted rudely.

"Shut it, smuggler! I'll start whenever I'm ready." Mazuri shouted, and a rubber snake shot out of her sleeve to attack Tio directly in the face.

"I guess you could say... she had a trick up her sleeve." Koh said louder than I think I've heard him say anything and chuckled humorously.

Everyone groaned at him, "You've gotta stop there, buddy."

"What? Just trying to give a bit of entertainment before the main event." Koh shrugged. Huh, he seemed to be wearing nicer clothes, which was saying something. I always thought that I was the worst dressed for everything, but Koh managed to be even sloppier with how he dressed. Maybe he only dressed nice for a party or something.

"You're going to be prepared faster than Mazuri, so why don't you take the stage?" Ted grinned widely and smacked Koh on the back. Despite it being an amiable gesture, I was pretty sure Ted forgot for a moment that he was the Ultimate Boxer and poor Koh rubbed his back in pain.

"Hey! I'm the comedian here, and quite frankly, I'm offended!" Atsuko scoffed, but burst out into giggles moments later.

"Er, no, that's alright Atsuko. Mazuri seems to be almost done with her preparations." Mika smiled sheepishly.

"Thank you! Jeez, you're the only capable one here." Mazuri huffed loudly.

Mazuri seemed to be shaking a bit, but she flawlessly performed trick after trick. Even though pretty much everyone in the room disliked her, we could all appreciate the fact that she was an entertaining and very talented magician. Ultimates can appreciate another good Ultimate talent despite how bitter we might be towards the person.

"Very well done." Petra was surprisingly the first one to start clapping and she clapped louder than anyone else as we all joined in with her.

"Can I just be done now? I want to leave." Mazuri looked visibly exhausted.

"Ahhh... Please don't leave the premises, but you may rest if you'd like." Petra looked forgiving at Mazuri's forlorn look and nodded curtly at her request.

"Thanks. I guess. You guys weren't the worst crowd out there, I guess." Mazuri whispered a bit emptily.

"What's with her?" Hokuto whispered to me.

"I dunno... But then again, who does?" I sighed back at him.

"Aww, don't you think she's warming up to us now? She's one of those... tsunderes, isn't she?" Yukira asked brightly.

"I don't know if that's how I would explain it, but I wouldn't say you were wrong." Hokuto nodded at the seemingly ecstatic girl.

"See, this party truly is working. I mean, I wouldn't doubt it since it was my idea, but you common folk have a chance to... mingle." Kiyomi announced, sort of shoving her hands together in an awkward explanation of mingling.

"I will admit that this is a lovely event you're holding, but I'm not quite ready to forgive your... stunt you pulled." Hokuto growled a bit, but didn't look too pissed off.

"Oooh, oooh! You know what? You two haven't really talked one on one yet, have you? I'd say that I like the both of you a lot, so why don't you interact? You're both interesting people." Yukira smiled brightly once again and dashed off.

"She... just made things ten times more awkward, didn't she?" I sighed.

"She sure did." Hokuto groaned a bit, but looked happy enough.

* * *

**Free Time with Hokuto?**

**Yes **or No?

* * *

Hana: Well, if Yukira thinks you're interesting, I bet you are. She's definitely the curious type.

Hokuto: I suppose. I don't particularly think I'm so interesting.

Hana: Heheheheh... then let's talk about something more interesting than just you!

Hokuto: If you're talking about yourself, that sounds a bit arrogant... And I can't say I quite trust that eerie laugh of yours.

Hana: I'm not talking about me! I'm talking about you—

Hokuto: But didn't you just say that we weren't talking about me?

Hana: I said _just_ you. What I mean is that I want to know more about you and Yukira!

Hokuto: W-What do you mean by that? Your gaze is very unsettling.

Hana: Well you kind of do what she tells you.

Tio: Ha! What Hana is trying to say is that Yukira's already put you in the dog house, and you're whipped as fuck!

Hana: Shut up, Tio! You're not a part of this conversation!

Hokuto: -flinches-

Hokuto: Actually, Hana... I'd love to finish this conversation, but let's move to a more secluded place so nobody can overhear us.

* * *

Hana: So I'm pretty sure backstage is empty enough for you, isn't it?

Hokuto: Yes, it is.

Hana: You're certainly a secretive person, but it's not surprising considering you're the Ultimate Hitman.

Hokuto: Ah, yes. I'd rather people get to know me as a person instead of my title, but this is how things just are. I'll learn to cope with it.

Hana: Oh my god, I totally get it.

Hokuto: Get what?

Hana: Why you like Yukira so much! It's because she doesn't see you as just a hitman. She sees you as a person.

Hokuto: You're a lot more perceptive than most people would give you credit for. That and she's kind of like... a doll. I don't want her to break.

Hana: So no romantic feelings?

Hokuto: ...

Hana: Well?

Hokuto: You don't have to look so deflated. I'm not quite sure myself.

Hana: Okay, okay. I see that this path of questioning won't get me that far.

Hana: Let's talk about how you became a hitman, then. I'll try and view you as a person instead of just seeing your title, but I'm sure knowing how you got your title would help me get to know you.

Hokuto: I normally don't like telling people things about myself. It's not pleasant at all.

Hana: Oh, I didn't mean to push about it.

Hokuto: Maybe I'll warm up to you eventually, but my story is a bit sad. I don't want you to hear it and get sad. If you truly wish to get to know me, maybe I'll tell you one day.

Hana: Well that's alright. I got to know you by just getting to talk to you. Thanks for this, I can tell that social interaction isn't exactly your cup of tea, so it's appreciated that you took time to speak with me.

Hokuto: It's not a problem. I've seen that you're trying to be quite the social butterfly despite not being the best at social interaction, so I'd hate to stamp out your efforts.

Hana: I'll be sure to be friends with you. Yukira was right, you are interesting! Well, here ya go.

Hokuto: A ballistic knife?

Hana: I don't really trust myself with it, but you're skilled with that sort of thing.

Hokuto: Aren't you scared that I'm dangerous and might kill someone with it?

Hana: More like the other way around. I'm pretty sure you'll protect someone with it or something like that.

Hokuto: Thanks, I guess.

Hana: You guess? Aww... I thought I was on a roll with my gift giving, but this one wasn't the best.

Hokuto: I truly appreciate the gesture, but I will admit that a knife isn't my preferred choice of a gift.

Hana: Yeah, I mean I knew it was something you wouldn't already have since Monokuma probably confiscated all dangerous items, but I thought it'd make you at ease. Then again, a knife is a pretty shitty gift.

Hokuto: Don't feel so down about it. I actually do like it and I will treasure it. Thank you.

Hana: Oh? Heh... No problem!

Hokuto: Well, I guess this is something you might want.

Hokuto: -suddenly points a gun to her head-

Hana: Whoa! What the fuck?

Hokuto: Oh! My apologizes, that's a bad habit of mine. This gun... it's your gift.

Hana: Do you... really trust me with this? Because I don't trust myself with this, just saying.

Hokuto: It's not real. It just has a cute design and I'm sure you could prank someone with it. I got it from that machine thing, and I was planning to give it to Tio or Mazuri as a truce offering. I've decided against it, since they'd probably cause a huge mess with it.

Hana: Good call. It was a pleasure talking to you; now let us continue enjoying the party, yes?

* * *

_Hokuto is a mysterious hitman who still hasn't revealed all his secrets. In fact, he didn't really reveal any of his secrets to me. I don't know anything about his past, but I did get to know him as a person. Since he's the type to not relay information so easily, I think I made good progress. Maybe I'll get something out of him next time. He has a soft spot for Yukira as she's someone he'd protect since she's delicate. That means he has a strong sense of justice, I guess? He doesn't like being seen as a hitman._

**Hokuto Leal : Level 1 Social Link**

_Item Get!: A toy gun. It makes a loud popping noise and can scare the shit out of someone, but it won't really kill someone. It has a cute design and it's something I totally enjoy. It's too bad I gave Hokuto kind of a shitty present._

* * *

When Hokuto and I arrived back to the cafeteria, everything was going normally. It was the same as when I had left and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Xiang, Mika, Petra, and Kiyomi seemed to be quite proud of their work, and they were obviously the top contributors to this amazing party. Hmm... I'd probably give them a thank you gift or something since they did so well. Maybe I could get everyone else into it too...

"Heya Hana!" Ted appeared behind me.

"Oh hey, Ted. What's up?" I smiled at the boxer.

"I wanted to commend you for your music selection. It's soothing, somehow. Like I'm no longer that pissed off at Kiyomi." Ted seemed to be thinking hard.

"I think that's more of the aura of the party rather than my music selection. I will admit that this is the music I use to pump me up, but at the same time calm me down." I nodded, impressed with Ted's perceptiveness.

Ted suddenly snapped and held up a finger like he understood something, "I've got it! It's like it makes me more social."

"I never thought of that, but that's an interesting way to put it." I laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Not many people in this group are extroverts, it seems." Ted muttered slowly.

"That's right. Social interaction isn't very necessary and it's a waste of time. So at least most of you have your priorities straight." Isaac butted in rudely.

"Why do you just appear in conversations to say something rude?" I inquired with an eyebrow raised.

"I merely make my presence known in a conversation that intrigues me, nothing more, nothing less." He shrugged.

"But he's right about the introverted nature of the people here. It certainly seems as if most of us don't like partying. Though I will commend Kiyomi on this party. I guess." Minato adjusted his headphones from over his shoulders to over his ears.

"Look who is talking. You're not exactly Mister Social Butterfly." Ryota scoffed teasingly.

"I didn't imply I was. I'm merely stating the facts." Minato heard Ryota over his blaring music that we all heard despite the fact he had headphones on.

"You really remind me of Isaac, Minato. Just more toned down." Ryota sighed in exasperation.

"You join in conversations that interest you only, just like a certain someone we know." I glanced at the philosopher.

"Isaac and I simply share the same mindset. Our personality differs in some ways, and we are alike in many ways. He is simply more... tolerable than some of you." Minato insulted us directly.

"Ouch, there it is. The blunt attack." Ryota winced slightly.

"Don't pretend like you're hurt. If you were, you wouldn't continue to be at Minato's side. I'm sure his snide remarks can get much worse than that." Isaac pushed his glasses up, "Plus, you seem to have taken a certain liking to him, am I wrong?"

"W-What the hell do you mean by that? You weirdo!" Ryota jumped in surprise and Minato had covered his face with a book. I'm pretty sure he was red, though.

"I don't mind. It's preferable than a hetero relationship to me personally since you can't reproduce, thus you're not overpopulating the Earth. I can't say I understand it though, because the sole purpose of getting with someone is to reproduce." Isaac stated bluntly.

"Well, there's always love. Not to say I feel anything for this imbecile, but love is a factor in relationships other than... reproducing." Minato stuttered, his face still hidden behind the book.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, but to each his own." Isaac shrugged.

"WELL. THIS GOT AWKWARD FAST." Ryota and I stammered quickly at the same time.

"I'm just gonna... I'm just gonna, yeah, er, go now, so uh, like, see you?" I stuttered countless times and ran off to the safety of the kitchen, leaving a shocked Ryota, an embarrassed Minato, and a casual Isaac.

"hOLY SHIT THAT WAS SO AWKWARD I WHAT EVEN." I huffed as soon as I had my back to the kitchen door.

"Is... there something wrong, Hana?" Xiang blinked at me in shock.

"Oh, sorry. I just escaped the most awkward scenario of my life; I just need to calm my embarrassment levels down. I also feel second hand embarrassment for Minato, and like—" I rambled on.

"Why don't you get a glass of water and relax? This party seems more like a wild ride for you than it is for me, and it's been quite the experience for me." Mika handed me a glass of ice cold water.

"It really is an experience. I've had quite a lot of fun getting to know everyone. We're all good people, I believe. But even in all this time, I can't manage to speak to everyone. There's just so many of us here." Xiang seemed to be in high spirits as well.

"Let's just hope it stays that way." Miki piped up.

"What do you mean by that?" I raised an eyebrow at the pianist.

"I think you know perfectly well what I mean." Miki sniffed. I don't think she's over the wasabi.

"Miki, don't say things like that..." Mika scolded lightly.

"Hey, I'm just saying. There's a chance that our number will dwindle, so..." Miki shrugged, crossing her legs on the food crate she was sitting on.

"She's not wrong. It's always smart to think ahead, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to provoke others and make them wary, young lady." Petra agreed, but shook her head in disappointment.

"It's a party, Petra." Mika and Xiang sighed at the same time.

"I-I'm aware! I'm just saying." Petra huffed, and brushed the imaginary dirt off her legs to avoid eye contact with either of them.

"You're having a good time, right Petra?" Xiang asked cautiously.

"I am. Thank you for this, I think I may have needed it." Petra sighed before smiling warmly.

"And the Ice Queen shows a smile. Will the sudden sun melt her away to nothing?" Miki shouted in an announcer-like voice.

"Miki!" Mika shouted.

"Hey! I'm the only one having fun here! You dreary upperclassmen are why everyone dreads growing up. I thought Hana had some oomph to her, but I guess not." Miki stomped her foot to the ground.

"At least you got your wish. You're not grown up, so I don't know what you're complaining about. Plus, it's vice versa with underclassmen and upperclassmen. Upperclassmen hate freshmen especially because of that bratty attitude you display." Petra scoffed, unaffected by Miki's words.

"Petra!" Xiang shouted.

"Wow. It's like you and Mika are in sync or something." I laughed at Xiang's sharp tone.

"I guess we both hold that older sibling vibe." They said at the same time.

"I don't have that because you all think I'm just a nagging nuisance. I don't mind." Petra rolled her eyes, "Well then, I'm off to socialize, I guess. I've rested well enough." And with that, she smoothly left the kitchen.

"Speaking of that, why are you guys in the kitchen anyways? I'm only here to escape." I looked at them expectantly.

"You could say the same for us. Miki is pissed at Mazuri and Atsuko, so I'm here to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble." Mika explained.

"And I'm here since I work better in smaller groups instead of socializing in an intimidating crowd like what's in the cafeteria." Xiang explained.

"Oh, I hear you. I don't like particularly like large crowds either." I grimaced.

Mika, Miki, and Xiang were nice company for the next thirty minutes or so. We all were relaxing and were having a good time. At least, I was. Miki would make annoyed comments every now and then, but Mika, Xiang, and I weren't the type to get riled up too easily.

"Ugh! You guys are too likable! Except for you, Hana. I have to go find people who don't make me feel all icky." Miki stamped out of the room.

"I'll... go after her." Mika sighed after a few moments of silence.

"Well, it looks like this is a fun party, but everyone is still a bit agitated." I noted, pursing my lips a bit.

"The party lightened the mood a bit, so it served its purpose. I'd say it was a success. Do you not think so?" Xiang asked hopefully, as if he were reassuring himself rather than me.

"I've never been to a party on this caliber before. Like... people are having fun here, but not everyone is friends with each other. When I go to a party, I'm friends with everyone so things go smoothly. But it's impressive what you guys managed to accomplish." I added the last part with a reassuring smile.

"I can't say I've gone to many parties. What are they like if they're different from this one?" Xiang genuinely looked curious.

"You look like the type to be invited to lots of parties though! And they're interesting, to say the least." I looked into the distance as if I were remembering some deranged horror story.

"You could say that. Due to my androgynous appearance, any gender seems to be the type to court me. However, I never thought I would enjoy a party." Xiang bowed his head modestly.

"Okay, so there was this one time where my friend who thought crocs were fashionable brought them to a party, right? And so my friend takes it off his foot and chucks it across the room only to hit a girl in the face. Then the girl—" I started.

* * *

Xiang and I spent some time together that was a lot more fun than a group conversation. He was a nice person, and we really did bond. However, he wasn't as outgoing as I'd hoped. He really had that older brother vibe that I had always wanted. He certainly reminded me of the vibe my own older sister had given me.

"So the girl—" I was cut off as Ryota and Koh burst into the kitchen. Are they escaping from something too? Xiang stopped laughing immediately.

"Is there something wrong?" Xiang noticed their tense faces, but neither of them had caught their breath yet.

"W-Wrong?! There's been an incident! Come quick!" Koh managed to breathe out, and with that, both him and Ryota were out of the kitchen yet again.

Xiang immediately chased after them. There was shock on his face, but he was quick to react in a high pressure environment. It makes sense since he's a warrior and all. Taking a second longer to register the sudden emptiness of the kitchen, I darted out. I barely missed Xiang rushing back stage. Funnily enough, the party was going on smoother than expected with an incident going on. Nobody else seemed agitated and they were normal enough.

Ugh. They better not be playing a joke. I'd expect it from Ryota, but not from Koh. But then again, Koh was one for puns which could be an indication he was pranking us.

Slowing to a moderate trot, I turned the corner to back stage. Huffing slightly, I looked around for the three other males, but they weren't in sight. It took me a minute or so, but I heard a muffled gasp coming from one of the backstage areas that sounded suspiciously like Xiang being pranked. Rolling my eyes, I knocked the door open and was prepared to yell at Koh and Ryota.

"Seriously guys, I'm pretty good at pranking myself and I know that your reactions are too weird to wHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" I screamed in terror.

**DING DONG BANG BONG!**

**A body has been discovered! Students, begin your investigating to find out who dun it! After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will be held to discover who the culprit is. Goooood luck!**

An unusually nasally and more irritating voice of Monokuma sounded over the intercom, but I was too shocked and terrified to say anything.

A dead body was lying right before my very eyes.

* * *

**Wow, I'm on a roll this week! But unfortunately, it's probably because I wanted to give you something special before I start school again... Yeah, that's right, I'm starting TOMORROW, so the more frequent updates will start dwindling considering that I'm surprisingly busy. Like Fall season will be the worst because of volleyball, but things should be okay.**

**If you've ever played Persona 3, I feel like that really awkward scene wouldn't be so awkward? Like when I wrote it, I imagined Aigis saying what Isaac was saying, but now that I'm looking back on it... It's so awkward wow. **

**Also, please review! I really enjoy seeing each and every review and it delights me a lot to see that a new one has appeared. I appreciate the feedback, and thank you so much to those who regularly review.**

**White Weasel: I'm so glad you liked it! I had a lot of fun, even though it was a ton of work and research, but I hope I got it down right? I tried my best to make it as accurate as possible. Yes! Yukira and Xiang are absolute cinnamon rolls that I just want to pull them out of this horrid game! They deserve better!**

**HeroinofDarkness: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. And yes, Xiang is 100% cinnamon roll.**

**ApexUtopia:**  
**prints out this review**  
**frames this review**  
**puts this review on my wall**

**I'd, um, would like to thank the Academy for this award. My family also played a huge part, and of course, my friends were always there to support me... wow, I'm very honored that I just... -wipes away tears-**

**oh my gosh I wow... thank you so much! I really appreciate that! You're too sweet, honestly xD**

**OtakuEloise: I'm so glad I got her character down right!**

**Question: Approximately when do you guys start school? I know I start kind of early compared to most people, but when you guys are in school I'll try to get updates in on the weekend so you have something to perhaps enjoy over the small break.**


	12. Case I: Investigation I

As much as I didn't want to admit it... there was definitely a body right at my feet. A body? My mind couldn't process who it was. Maybe some sort of mannequin or dummy? Yeah... Yeah! That had to be it. There was no way one of us was actually dead.

Except it wasn't a mannequin or dummy.

The lifeless body of Atsuko Koyanagi was laying right before my eyes.

It was hard to imagine that the bubbly girl would was full of life suddenly looked so, well, dead. Just an hour ago she was making a joke and laughing hysterically while we all looked at her in disgust. Maybe I should have really valued her as a person more than I did... And now she was dead. I could never listen to her jokes again or ever see her bright smile. I wish I could just tell her that I appreciated her existence for even a bit and that I liked her jokes. Maybe that'd make her feel better in heaven.

"What... Why did this happen?! Is she really dead?! SERIOUSLY?!" Ryota shouted, his voice quivering.

"There's no way one of us would kill... Not when we were all getting along." Xiang clenched his fist and wasn't staring at Atsuko.

"**UPUPUPUPU! Finally! I've been waiting for this! It's time for the despair to finally sink in... Now then, ahem, I'll just have to call for the others.**" Monokuma popped out of nowhere and cackled eerily.

"Explain this! Is she... honestly dead?" Koh burst out angrily.

"**Do you even listen to the announcements? Sheesh! A dead body has been discovered! Tell me, Mister Obata, do you know what dead means?**" Monokuma seemed to elongate his limbs until he was a lot more menacing. He let out a growl, and we all stumbled back rowdily.

"This is just a joke! There is not way this is real! Hahahahahaha, I don't believe it. Yeah! Hana, you're so funny! This was a great prank! Hahahahaha! But don't you think it's a bit cruel? Don't play that sort of prank on us! I didn't picture you as the dark humor type, but who even knows?!" Ryota rambled anxiously. He was laughing and trying to deny what was before him.

"Ryota, calm down. It's not—" Koh started, but Ryota cut him off.

"I am calm! Ha! I'm more than calm! If you look in a dictionary, you'll find a picture of my face next to the word calm! Get away from me!" Ryota scrambled to the far corner of the room and made a kicking motion when I tried approaching him.

"**Yeesh! You're an annoying one, Mister Morimoto! Shut your yap! I need to make an announcement since the other students are probably scrambling around looking for a body. So if you'll excuse me...**" Monokuma seemed to disappear as he sunk into the ground.

"Oh yeah, the others don't know what is going on..." I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"**Attention students! Some of you idiots can't find out where the goddamn body is, so I'll tell you rather than let you scramble around aimlessly. This is a school of productivity, after all! Check the backstage of the stage in the cafeteria! Ta tah for now~**" Monokuma's blaring voice appeared over the intercom.

"Here they are! Xiang, what's wrong? What's with this body discovery announcement?!" I heard Petra's voice seconds before she burst into the room. She was panting as if she had run throughout the entire school, which she probably had.

"Petra! Is there really a..." Mika's voice was seconds behind.

"Yes, she's actually... dead." Xiang sounded strained, as if it were strangling just to speak.

"Stay out here if you can't stand the sight of the body. I'll do some investigating." Mika reassured him calmly.

"Yes, thank you." Xiang still seemed on edge, but he let out an exhale of relief.

"Hana! What's going on here?!" Petra snapped in front of my face. She looked thoroughly shocked, but she was more calm than the rest of us.

"I don't know! She was dead before I even got here." I raised my hands defensively and melted under Petra's harsh glare.

"Very well. It seems like this class trial sort of thing will happen soon, so we must gather all the evidence we can to bring the culprit to justice." Petra looked unnerved, but she instantly was kneeling near Atsuko's body that was slumped on the floor.

"Stop pretending to be in on the joke, Petra! I expected more from you, but! But! You're pretending like this is real! It's definitely not real!" Ryota managed to breath out. His eyes were dilated and fear obviously shone through.

"Stop acting like a child and face reality! There is nothing more we can do now than let Atsuko rest in peace when we damn her killer to hell!" Petra shouted furiously.

Koh and I stood shocked in silence at Petra's sudden outburst. She remained elegant and poised as she blatantly shouted. It seemed as if she was simply scolding Ryota for being a bit negligent on a small task as she usually was. But this situation was much more dire than a simple accident, and Petra was slowly breaking down just like the rest of us. Only in her case, it wasn't that easy to tell.

"Miss Adamanteen, you're correct. Let's just... look for evidence, shall we?" Koh whispered in uncertainty after a few moments of stunned silence.

"Yes, that would be preferable. Thank you." Petra seemed to shoot an apologetic look at all of us and straighten up.

"No, wait! Petra, don't leave. Hear me out, I get you're upset because you think Atsuko is dead, but I can prove she's not! She's the Ultimate Comedian, come on. She's just... playing a prank... Just like Kiyomi... Heh..." Ryota seemed like he was reassuring himself rather than Petra.

"Hm... Do you really think? Of course! It may just be something like Miss Hasegawa's case..." Petra nervously smiled to herself, but she didn't look completely convinced. I was convinced for about a second until I remembered why we all thought this was real in the first place. The body discovery announcement, it went off in this case unlike last time. Unfortunately, this was 100% real.

"See... If you just see here..." Ryota turned silent as he bent over Atsuko's unmoving body and checked her pulse.

"Well? Is there anything—" Petra was cut off by a few others suddenly arriving on the scene.

"HE DID IT! Ryota, that bastard! Did he kill Atsuko?!" Miki appeared suddenly, pointing an accusing finger at the first person she saw.

"Miki, calm down, he's just checking her pulse." Mika put her hand on Miki's shoulder.

"Oh my god... Oh my god..." Miki looked absolutely horrified, but she sighed in relief, "So that means she's still alive, right? Then why did that damn announcement go off? It scared the shit out of me!"

"Er... Mister Morimoto? Is there something wrong?" Koh looked at the frozen actor.

"She doesn't... have a pulse." Ryota looked absolutely shell shocked.

"I knew it..." Xiang muttered depressingly, "She's dead, Ryota."

Screeching, Ryota immediately rushed away from Atsuko's body, "I'm out of here! I can't deal with this! Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

"Is it truly as I feared?!" Yukira and the rest of the students seemed to now file in, but the Aristocrat was biting her lip and her eyes were barely open, as if she didn't want to see the body if Atsuko were truly dead. And she definitely was.

"It is, Yukira." Hokuto answered her, instantly shielding her eyes with his hand.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Chop, chop. We don't have much time left before the trial, let's hurry on and investigate. If you're too weak to stomach looking at the body, leave now. You'll just get in my way. And let me just say, you'd be dead if there weren't others to help you out." Isaac's harsh voice cut through all of my thoughts as he hurried to Atsuko's body.

Xiang looked downcast, as if he were ashamed of his mere existence. He opened his mouth to say something, but apparently decided against it. Snapping his jaw shut, the Warrior turned around and made a smooth exit. A few others who were too scared to look at the body followed right after him, murmuring amongst themselves.

"Pathetic." Isaac sneered and rolled his eyes.

"Stop acting all high and mighty, okay? Just move aside and let us examine the goddamn body." Tio's eye twitched irritably.

"Shut it, the both of you. If we just work together, this will go by much faster." Petra let out a rigid sigh.

"Now let's see then... It seems like there is no external bleeding." Koh noted easily. Yeah, if there had been a lot of blood, we would be covered in it by now.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: No external bleeding.**

"Hm? What was that?" I asked, blinking at the beeping noise that had emitted from my e-Handbook.

"It's a feature in the e-Handbook. Once a body has been discovered, you can obtained truth bullets that are basically evidence to help you find out who the killer is." Isaac replied, still peering over the shoulder of Atsuko and roughly shoved her body to the side.

"Be careful with her body... It's still precious..." Koh stuttered nervously.

"Yeah, more precious than you." Isaac sarcastically said and rolled his eyes.

"Precisely. That's why she should still be treated with care. Even in death." He looked away from the piercing gaze Isaac gave him.

"Well it's a good thing that I shoved her, or otherwise I wouldn't have found these." Isaac spoke up.

"What are thoooooooooose?" My eyes widened in shock.

"Ugh. Stop with that, it's annoying. Your weird references, they piss me off. Anyways, I'm not quite sure what 'these' are..." Isaac growled at me before looking a bit thoughtful.

"Ah! I know what they are! They look like... needles, do they not?" Kiyomi asked, looking at us expectantly.

"Now that she does mention it... They do look a lot like a pair of needles." Ted nodded thoughtfully.

"Are those tiny needles the murder weapon then?" Miki inquired with a look of uncertainty shrouding her face.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Sharp Needles**

"**Upupupu! Murder weapon and cause of death? That's something you'd find in... Ta dah! The handy dandy Monokuma File Zero!**" Monokuma appeared suddenly, thrusting a tablet-like object into the hands of Isaac.

"Huh? What is that?" Ted blinked at the bear, but Monokuma had already disappeared.

"Ugh." Miki grunted.

"What the hell are we going to do with that thing?" Ted angrily punched his fist into his palm.

"Never mind that. Isaac, what is that thing?" Petra peered over the philosopher's shoulder.

"It seems as if it contains information on the details of the case. However, this is all information that isn't very helpful." Isaac sighed in exasperation, handing the tablet to Petra.

"Hmm? What does it say then?" I looked over Petra's shoulder as she stood up.

"Let's see..." Hokuto murmured, reaching over and tapping the blinking tablet.

* * *

**Victim: **Atsuko Koyanagi

**Time of Death: **Approximately 2 PM

**Murder Weapon: **Unknown

**Cause of Death: **Unknown

**Location: **The victim was found in one of the rooms backstage. That is where she fell victim to the culprit's attack.

**Additional Information: **The victim was found laying on her back and on the floor. There is slight bruising on her back, and whether these bruises were inflicted post-mortem or while the victim was still conscious is unknown. There is also a substance sticking out of her neck.

* * *

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Monokuma File Zero**

"This is practically useless." Ted scoffed angrily, looking away from the file.

"Yeah. The things sticking out of her neck are these needle things, and her bruising isn't what killed her so..." Mika trailed on.

"It's pretty safe to assume that she was killed by those needles, right?" Hokuto grunted at the rest of us.

"Is it really? There must be some other way. There's no way a pathetic pair of needles killed her. Yeah, they're sharp, but they're just a tiny pair of needles!" Tio rolled his eyes.

"There doesn't seem to be anything else that could have killed her..." Hokuto bit his lip in thought.

"If there's no external injuries other than bruising... but the bruising didn't kill her then..." Ted semi-whispered to himself.

"Yeah. Listen to the boxer, hitman. Not all murders are done through mercilessly hacking through someone's flesh! Of course you wouldn't know that though, would you? Hitmen seem brutal to me~" Tio singsonged too teasingly for the situation at hand.

"You're insinuating that she got poisoned." Hokuto deadpanned.

"Bang. You got it, buddy." Tio made a hand gun motion and pretended to shoot in Hokuto's direction.

"Well there are other ways to kill people without them bleeding." Hokuto muttered to himself.

"Yes, but not all of us are as skilled as you in killing. Unless the killer is you, I'm sure that the killer only could have had one option to kill the victim without having her bleed excessively. That one thing I can think of is poison, isn't it?" Tio raised his eyebrow.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: **Tio's Account. Unless the killer was highly skilled, the only possible way to make the victim not bleed is through poisoning. The chances that the killer was highly skilled is slim, so this theory holds enough water.

"He makes a good point. That does make sense..." Mazuri grunted, as if she hated admitting people were right.

"Of course it's a good point. I brought it up." Tio sighed and rolled his eyes as if Mazuri should have realized he was 'so great' earlier on.

"That's just a theory. You can't actually prove it yet." Koh snorted a bit awkwardly.

"Not yet. I'm sure some adequate proof will come up soon enough." Tio smirked arrogantly.

"What other evidence is there? I can't see any other wounds on her body..." Hokuto whispered to himself.

"You'd be correct. The Monokuma file does only bring up the fact that she has very slight bruising from either falling or being pushed. Then there's the needles in the neck. Other than that, there aren't any shown injuries." Mazuri listed off, looking at the Monokuma File.

"So there's not much use looking at her body anymore. I'll be off then." Hokuto left, and the rest of them piled out of the door to find any other evidence.

"Er... Mazuri, are you alright? You've been... more silent than usual." Mika turned around sharply, and I bumped into her as I was exiting.

"Why wouldn't I be okay? I'm perfectly fine." Mazuri scoffed, not making eye contact with the debater.

"It's quite prominent that you don't particularly like any of us. However, you and Atsuko were somewhat close. Would it be presumptuous of me to say that she was... your friend, perhaps?" Mika looked really regretful at her choice of words, and treaded carefully on what she said.

Mazuri's reaction certainly surprised us, "HAH! Are you kidding?! I thought you were smarter than that, debater. Didn't I say countless times that I don't want to make friends? I can say it as many times as you want. I don't want to make friends. I don't want to make friends. I don't want to make friends."

"Ah, yes, I get it..." Mika looked extremely shocked, and a tad upset.

"Assuming that I'd make friends with anyone! What a joke! You're not even Atsuko, and you're pulling a stupid stunt like that. Now if you'd just move." Mazuri snarled and shoved Mika out of the way with more force than necessary.

"Ah... Are you okay?" I asked Mika when Mazuri had left.

"I'm fine. I just worry about her." Mika looked at Mazuri's retreating figure and then smiled, "We should split up now."

Mika sharply turned to the right and left to go find some clues on her own. She sure is a strong lady who cares for others too, it's nice that she's here to bring some order to the rest of us. Without her, we'd probably be headless chickens running around, unsure what to do. Sure, Isaac and Minato were intelligent, but they weren't nice enough to really help out even in a dire situation like this. Groaning, I turned to the left and continued looking for clues.

"Eep!" I heard a short squeak coming from the room on the right. Blinking slowly, I decided to enter. Why was anyone in the infirmity?

"Oh, Hana! Did you find any clues on the body of Atsuko?" Xiang looked up at me. He was helping Yukira up, who had probably fallen after reaching high up for something in the cupboard that was open.

"Nice, Hana! I don't think I could really stand staying in a room with a dead body for that long... So could you mind filling us in?" Yukira looked a bit abashed.

"Sure thing, but I'm not really sure what happened myself." I shrugged, unfortunately telling the truth.

"Ah, was it confusing? Perhaps Yukira and I could discipher some of the clues." Xiang offered a reassuring smile.

"Well, I know you saw the body briefly, but I'll explain for Yukira." I turned to face the younger girl.

"Hm, was it... kind of gruesome?" Yukira yelped.

"Not at all, actually. She looked peaceful in death, and surprisingly enough, there was no external injuries except for two needles that were pierced through her neck and minor bruising on her back from falling or being pushed." I explained, making sure to put in details that she would need to know.

"Huh... So it wasn't so bad. Then how did Atsuko die? Do you know?" Yukira peered at me expectantly.

"Not quite... It was pretty hard to pinpoint the cause of death, and we had quite a lot of theories bounding around about how she died." I sighed, agitated that I couldn't give her more information about the cause of death.

"I don't really understand how she could have died... Nothing is really sticking out to me." Yukira narrowed her eyes.

"Poisoning, perhaps? That's the only thing that I can really think of..." Xiang rubbed his head nervously.

"That's what Tio said, but there's no real proof. It makes plenty of sense though." I nodded and Xiang relaxed.

"Hm? How does that make any sense? It doesn't really to me. There's no proof, you said? So?" Yukira looked thoroughly puzzled.

"I don't really get it myself. Xiang? Could you explain your outlook on it?" I turned to the warrior.

"My personal opinion might not be the same as Mister Kurogane's, but I think we're on the same path. Basically, Miss Koyanagi was not attacked with what most people would perceive as a weapon. She wasn't stabbed with a knife or anything, right? It's possible that she had a heart attack or something, but I doubt that's the case. In a murder scenario, unless the killer knows their stuff, it's unlikely to think that Atsuko could have died any other way than poisoning in this case." Xiang explained while Yukira and I nodded at him.

"It makes plenty of sense to me now." Yukira nodded happily.

"The only thing left now is to prove it." I agreed.

"Well I actually haven't found much of anything in here. Or anywhere, unfortunately. I guess everything went down in the backstage room." Yukira sighed.

"I'm not quite sure I understand this predicament." Yukira frowned, "But mark my words, I will get to the bottom of it."

"That's the spirit, Miss Kisaragi!" Xiang beamed at her, and she beamed back.

"Uh, I don't really think they discovered more than that. Her body didn't have many clues on it." I scratched my head awkwardly.

"It's a shame we haven't found much of anything. Let's hope the others found something useful." Xiang muttered.

"Yeah, so where to next?" I started exiting.

"Wait! Xiang, can you hoist me up? I need to close this cupboard." Yukira waved him over and she was promptly lifted up.

"Oops! Look out, Yukira, are you alright?" Xiang staggered as Yukira made a sudden movement and darted for the cupboard. She narrowly missed slamming her face in the cupboard by extending her hand in front of her face to brace her for impact. She successfully shoved a few of the bottles in the cupboard off out of the cupboard and three bottles tumbled to the ground.

"Eep! Sorry, Xiang. Did any of those hit you you?" Yukira looked down.

"No, I'm good. I narrowly dodged them all. Sorry for shifting so suddenly." Xiang responded.

"Huh, so there's medicine in here? That's pretty sweet." I leaned down and picked up the three bottles.

"I've been having a headache recently, so that will help me." Xiang safely hoisted Yukira off his shoulders and pointed at the bottle in my left hand.

"These certainly are useful. Huh, like this. It helps for fever." I read the label of the other bottle.

"Wait... What's that, then?!" Yukira pointed accusingly at the last bottle.

There was no instructions on the last bottle. Not a single word was on the sheet that wrapped itself around the bottle. It was a liquid substance and sloshed around noisily when I tried spinning it around to look for any possible instructions. There were none. Grimacing in confusion, I kept turning the bottle, as if a magical label would appear.

"On the cap... What is that?" Yukira peered at the bottle from the side.

"It's... a skull with crossed bones...?" Xiang seemed thoroughly confused.

It was a full bottle of poison.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Bottle of Poison:** It was suspiciously located at the back of the highest cupboard in the infirmary.

* * *

**YIKES! I am so sorry this took so long! And the quality is like terrible since it hasn't been beta-read? I'm not going to lie... School is whooping my ass a lot more than I thought it would. So I probably will be updating kinda slow. I'm really sorry, my beta-reader is also extremely busy, so a somewhat hiatus might be happening. And of course I left you hanging on who died ahaha I'm terrible.**

**Thank you to all of you for waiting so patiently! I also really appreciate how people are starting to review a bit more O: It really makes my day when I see a new review ^^ and honestly with the shit I'm going through right now, yuck... But I won't get into that.**

**Question: What are some theories you have on this particular case?**

**HeroinofDarkness: oMG I'M THE WORST FOR LEAVING YOU GUESSING FOR SO LONG. And yikes, good luck with school! I know how terrible it is for me right now, and hopefully you're doing better with it.**

**White Weasel: I'm pretty much a sucker for cliffhangers which is terrible because I know how bad cliffhangers are like I legit couldn't sleep once because of one and I left you guys wondering for a month oh my god.**

**Thank you so much! I really appreciate your support ^^**

**Otaku Eloise: Atsuko! Ha, sorry for that long wait... ^^" And yeah! They're really cool o:**

**ApexUtopia: Really? You're so supportive of this fic and it always makes me smile ^^ And yeah! Kiyomi isn't the most normal. I sure hope the excitement hasn't died down... because this is one hell of a first case.**

**InariKurenai: Thank you so much! Your support is amazing ^^**

**DoctorTDespair: No problem! I totally get where you're coming from honestly. That it was! The party was quite a wild ride. Yeah! I'm glad someone caught on to that, ha. Well here's the victim! Surprising?**

**Gin-Ex-Machina: Thank you! I really am grateful to all the people who are helping me improve ^^ And yes! Isaac being awkward makes me laugh all the time. **


	13. Case I: Investigation II

I stared blankly at the bottle in front of me. For a few seconds, I just stared and didn't say anything. Making a weird face, I kept turning the bottle around and around to make sure that what I was looking at was the real deal. By my fifth rotation, Yukira had promptly snatched the container from my hands.

"We must report this immediately! This is a vital clue!" Yukira's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"That's... That's impossible. I refuse to believe it." I shook my head slowly.

"Ah, ah. It's elementary, my dear Hana." Yukira tutted at me.

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"I'm sure you've read that... Ahem..." Yukira paused before changing her voice, "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"Oh." I said eloquently.

"As much as I hate to say this, Atsuko is dead. We're only trying to bring the killer to justice at this point. It's terrifying, but it's quite obvious what happened in this case." Yukira nodded to herself.

"As much as I'd hate to interrupt, I don't think we should report this to everyone else." Xiang piped in cautiously.

"Hm? Why not?" I turned to face him.

"Yukira... You're a bit, how should I put this? Er, well, I guess I don't need to say it. But what I'm trying to get at is that the killer is one of the others. We can bring this up at the trial to corner the culprit." Xiang treaded nervously. Although Xiang did not say it, I could tell what he was getting at. Of course Yukira was an intelligent and elegant young woman, but she also was a bit naive and was perhaps too excited at a shot of being like Sherlock Holmes. It was definitely smarter to go with Xiang's instincts to stay quiet about the whole ordeal.

"The trial is when we'll make our move. The real game is the trial, not this investigation. In the whole scheme of things, we're merely preparing to face the trial." I muttered more bitterly than I had intended.

"Eep! You two are right... The trial... I don't even want to think about it." Yukira shuddered.

"Don't worry about it, Yukira. We'll be okay if we just keep searching." Xiang patted her on the back. "What... can we look for? I don't want to search the body, and I just..." Yukira looked more downcast than I had ever seen her.

"Don't worry Yukira. I'll go back and check, but you've done a splendid job already. Don't let the despair get to you already, alright? Here... I'll trust the bottle with you. It's really important, and I believe in you." I offered and smile, and the aristocrat smiled back.

"Thank you, the both of you." Yukira giggled softly before running off.

Sometimes it was hard to believe that such an elegant and mature girl was only fifteen. She was a first year, probably. Fifteen year olds could even be considered as junior high kids. The whole ordeal was terrible, and I wished that everything would just go away to at least make her smile. People as young as Miki and Yukira really shouldn't have to face this especially. It was bad enough already for me; I truly wondered how they felt. "I can tell you're worrying about how Yukira is with her being so young but... There's someone else I'm worried about too." Xiang exhaled softly.

"Hm? Is it Miki?" I blinked at him.

"Well, her too, but... Mazuri. She's fifteen as well, you know." Xiang sighed.

"She is? There's no way!" My wide was wide open in disbelief.

"She is. I've tried befriending her which is definitely a hard task, but she truly needs friends soon. I don't want anything bad happening to her any time soon." Xiang expressed his worry.

Smiling brightly in order to lighten the mood, I slapped the warrior in a friendly manner on the back, "Don't worry about it! I'll try my best to make sure she's in check. We'll all be okay."

"Thank you. She should be backstage with Isaac. Perhaps you should check up on them?" Xiang offered, and stalked away.

* * *

"Uh... So is there anything I can do to help?" I asked awkwardly to break the silence between the two people standing in front of me as soon as I walked onto the scene. Isaac looked visibly annoyed, which was not very surprising. However, I couldn't really say it was Mazuri's fault. The poor girl seemed a bit out of place and startled. She was twiddling her thumbs and had a forlorn expression on her face. Just before I had made my entrance, she looked nervous and somewhat frightened which was definitely odd... Maybe Xiang was right about her. I made sure to keep an eye out for her.

"No? Duh? Who even asked you to come here anyways? Nobody wants you here, okay?" Mazuri huffed irritably as soon as she noticed me and instantly her fear and subconscious nervousness seemed to vanish.

"She's just having a little fit like the child she is." Isaac rolled his eyes and stared at me expectantly.

"Why are you staring at me like that? What am I supposed to do about it?" I frowned at the philosopher.

"Honestly... You're so dense. Get her to leave so I can examine the body more in peace. She's nothing but a hindrance to my investigation." Isaac rolled his eyes yet again.

"Yikes... Alright then, Mazuri, let's go... I guess." I laughed nervously at the tension.

"You can't tell me what to do. Get outta here, loser." Mazuri childishly stuck out her tongue. "If you insist on staying, at least try and investigate. It's not like I want to die with you imbeciles if we don't get the culprit right." Isaac gave us a fake smile.

"Ha... I really don't know if I can handle the pressure of being with the two of you..." I breathed out.

"I can't believe you're intimidated so easily. What a dumbass." Mazuri yawned in my face.

"Isaac! Help me here!" I pleaded desperately.

"..." The philosopher did not respond.

"Well then... so I guess it's just you and me...?" I looked at the magician.

"Don't say things like that. I don't want to talk to you." Mazuri shot at me, but she had this air of nervousness and awkwardness to her suddenly once again.

"Oh. Um. Okay then." I ended the conversation very eloquently.

After a few awkward moments, Mazuri furrowed her eyebrows and opened her mouth to speak, "So, um, dancing queen," she laughed at her own sarcasm although it didn't have the usual bite to it, "er, I guess, I mean to ask, well, how are you doing?"

"Excuse me?!" I hadn't meant to sound so rude, but I was honestly shocked.

"A-are you stupid or something? You don't even know how to respond to a simple question! I-I just didn't want to do this stupid investigating business and all, so you're going to be my entertainment!" Mazuri managed to awkwardly stutter out in an attempt to sound commanding.

"Mazuri, are you alright?" I asked sincerely. I didn't think she would change so drastically due to the death of Atsuko, but there were many things I didn't know about her that might have been surfacing now.

"Scared to check the body, are we?" Isaac sneered without looking up from investigating.

"N-No! Bodies don't scare me." Mazuri seemed to respond quite honestly.

"Of course they don't. I know what the real problem is." Isaac let out a fake sigh.

Mazuri seemed to freeze in fear, and was actually for a loss of words. I had never seen her so surprised, nor small. She actually seemed like the young girl that she was, rather than some overly confident and over the top magician. I could never figure out these people; it was if any time I thought I could read someone, they would completely change. I thought Mazuri was just some bratty, rich, and spoiled girl, but there was more to her than what I originally thought. She was awkward in small conversations and despite her claim that she didn't want to make any friends, she must have been quite fond of Atsuko. Sure, she was still somewhat of an asshole when she didn't care about the feelings of others and enjoyed our misery, but she was actually human. That was something I was just getting to understand.

Seemingly snapping out of her daze, Mazuri suddenly flung draped her top hat over what Isaac was holding and it completely disappeared. Isaac was not dazed in the slightest, though he looked quite annoyed at the magician. What amazing self-control he had, it was eerily creepy how composed Isaac was.

"If you are going to continue to act like a child, I will find clues elsewhere. Good day." Isaac let out sharply, and turned heel to leave.

"Teehee! You're such a spoil sport, Isaac! I'll be confiscating this evidence, and you won't see it again! Don't you at least like my special trick? Aww, you didn't even frown! Come on! I went to all that trouble and you're not even upset? Isaac!" Mazuri seemed to jump right back into her stage persona, but her words didn't have the same oomph as usual.

"Doesn't matter. I don't care." Isaac's voice carried over into the room.

"Aww! That's no fun! I want to see you cry one day, you know!" Mazuri cackled a bit crazily and followed him out the room.

That was odd, but I could safely say that I didn't really understand what had happened. Mazuri had changed drastically for a moment, and it was scary to see her change from a sadistic little brat to confused and hurt. There was something bothering her, and she needed some sort of help. But I had no idea what the problem was, nor why it was changing her this way.

"HANA! THERE YOU ARE!" Miki burst into the room, successfully interrupting my thoughts, "Mika is looking for ya. Just saying."

"I literally have never been so glad to see you." I exhaled a long sigh of relief.

"That's nice and all, but Mika says it's important so..." Miki laughed at me from the door, but stopped mid sentence when Isaac reappeared.

"Oh, it seems like Mazuri has left. That's a relief, I needed to talk to you." Isaac looked at me pointedly.

"Um, excuse you. Hana was just on her way to leave. You should have talked to her beforehand." Miki bluntly stated.

"Miss Hinamori, it would just take a second. Just like how it would take you a second to learn some manners, yes?" Isaac gave her a somewhat threatening smile.

"What did you need me to do?" I had barely finished my sentence before a pamphlet was thrown at me and I fumbled to catch it.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Isaac's Pamphlet**

* * *

"Mika? You needed to see me?" I asked as soon as a swung past the door.

"Oh, well not really. Minato said he wanted to speak to you about a vital clue he's found, but he refuses to share it with any of us. It's just you, oh, and Koh too." Mika tutted, the first time I'd ever seen her a bit agitated.

"Me? I'm pretty sure Minato hates me! Wouldn't he share this information with Ryota over me?" I blinked rapidly in surprise.

"I don't understand him either... He seems to hate you enough to talk to me to relay the message to you, but I sent Miki to pick you up instead since she was getting restless and I have a crime scene to check out. His fear in women and all people in general it seems like... what a hindrance." Mika kept a level head, but the stress of the crime was obviously getting to her too.

"Sorry to hear that... I'll pass on the information during the trial, so don't worry about it, alright? You've done more than enough." I gave an awkward reassuring smile to the debater.

"Thanks Hana, that's sweet. Well, no use talking to me now. Go get that information." Mika gave a tired smile back.

I walked a few steps and looked outside the room that Mika was in, but I did not see Minato anywhere. Mika did say that he was there, but I did not see the psychologist anywhere. Instead, I did find myself staring right at Koh. There was something different about him, that was for sure. He seemed just a tad happier than usual, but had his eyebrows furrowed while probably thinking about the case. He seemed to also have cleaned up and looked a lot nicer than the slob that I first saw him as.

"Koh? Where's Minato?" I approached him quietly.

"Oh! Um, hey Hana..." Koh snapped out of his thoughts and smiled nervously at me. What was with everyone changing up their act all of a sudden? It was certainly suspicious and made me nervous myself. I wasn't hiding anything... well anything too important from everyone else, but I felt like everyone had a whole lot to hide from me.

"Koh? Are you alright? Did you hear what I just asked you?" I put my hand on his shoulder gently as a reassuring motion, but he instantly scurried away.

"Huh? What? Oh, yes! Um, Minato! He, er, was to meet with you regarding information that he knew of... but he decided that meeting with a lady was too much for him to handle. He only trusted the both of us with this information. However, he was quite adamant that we didn't peak at this piece of evidence until we absolutely needed it for the trial." Koh explained nervously and ended up handing me a neat blue folder.

**Truth Bullet Obtained: Minato's File**

"I get the point of not wanting to give out too much evidence to everyone, but why wait until the trial? If he's going to give us information, shouldn't he let us check it first? And why us? Doesn't he like Ryota the most or something? Honestly..." I waved the blue file around to emphasis my exasperation.

"Well, um, he did say that he didn't really want this information getting around... Even to us, the two people he allegedly trusts with this information. He doesn't want it getting out unless it's necessary for the trial. As for why he trusts only us, that's something I wanted to talk to you about." Koh's face turned serious for a second.

"Hm? What's so important about that?" I tilted my head in curiosity.

"Well, I'm sure you can tell, but I have some sort of an inferiority complex. Minato says that I'd listen whatever he said and he's absolutely right. But what he said about you really surprised me." Koh paused nervously yet again and looked away as if he were debating whether to tell me something or not.

"And...?" I prompted, whirling my hand around as a signal for him to continue. "He said you had a superiority complex." Koh whispered.

"Excuse me?!" I shouted a bit louder than I intended to.

"Oh, I didn't mean to offend you! I just, oh, I just said what he said to me! I, oh dear, I'm just the worst. I didn't mean to offend you. And, um, I didn't mean to make us sound similar because you're so cool and amazing, and of course you're not as bad as me... Haha..." Koh rambled frantically.

"Calm down, calm down... I'm not offended, don't worry. I mean, I did hope to come off as confident, but I didn't think I came off as arrogant." I frowned.

"By any chance, do you know what a superiority complex is? Most people tend to confuse it for something other than what it really is." Koh calmly asked, but then blinked as if he had surprised himself, "Not to say that you don't know what it is! You're a very intelligent woman; I didn't mean to imply that you didn't know or anything like that!"

"Um, well I always thought someone with a superiority complex thinks that they're better than everyone else, right? But that's probably wrong since I'd assume most people think that as well." I tapped my chin thoughtfully.

"Well, a superiority complex is basically when a person believes they are inferior and try to compensate for it by coming across as confident when they really aren't. So you would listen to his instructions as well since you still do feel inferior." Koh whispered so softly that I almost didn't hear him.

I flinched, "I... I didn't ever think about that."

"Not to say that he's right! I don't think so, haha, you're a very confident and cool young lady!" Koh gave me a meek grin.

"Why does he think that?" I muttered, still in complete shock.

"Maybe you should ask him some later time in those bonding sessions you seem to be having with our other classmates?" Was that bitterness I detected?

"Is something wrong? Why do you seem unhappy all of a sudden?" I frowned at him.

"Er, well, I just thought that it would be fun to get to know you- and the others too of course!" Koh smiled.

"I'll be sure to think of going to you after the trial," I laughed, "but you kind of seem like the analytical type right? I'm pretty sure you know all of us better than we know ourselves."

"There are some people I can't figure out though. And I think they're the most interesting." He winked at me, "Enough with the whole deep conversation, I've given you what you needed. I'll leave you alone now." That boy was sure odd.

* * *

"Did you get the information?" Mika seemed to be busy thinking, but jumped up to me as soon as I re-entered the room.

"I did, but I'm not really allowed to tell anyone about it. I'm not even allowed to look at it myself since it's more of a last resort item." I let her down slowly.

"What a bust. Well, I sure hope we don't need it. But I guess it's a good thing that it's still available if it's needed." Mika let out a long sigh.

"It'll be alright, don't worry. We wouldn't want to get wrinkles too early now, would we?" I laughed halfheartedly.

Mika sighed, seemingly completely ignoring what I had just said, "I mean... I guess I really shouldn't be judging Minato for his actions. I have something to ask you."

"What is it?" I perked up, interested in what the debater could need me for.

"Please, take this with you. It is an article revolving certain interesting circumstances that had happened before we came here to Hope's Peak Academy. I found it in the library, and I think it has to do with the case. However, I'm being hypocritical here in asking that you do not read the article unless necessary as Monokuma has informed me that we have little time left until the trial starts." Mika looked thoughtful and very troubled.

"You think? That's odd... You're usually very certain on things." I questioned her.

"Yes, I hate to admit that I am not certain in most things about this case. That is why I ask of you to not waste your time on possibilities. It's definitely odd and a terrible first case to have to begin with. Hopefully we get things rolling during the trial period because I hate to say that I don't have a solid lead on who the culprit might be." Mika turned around and began investigating once more.

I exited the room and continued to look for clues for a short while, before ultimately giving up. I couldn't find anything that I thought was relevant to the case at hand and the more I searched, the more I became frustrated at the lack of findings. Plopping down at a table in the library, I tried to gather the events of everything that happened to instead put use in thinking rather than physical evidence. Remembering that Isaac had given me a pamphlet that I was actually allowed to look at, I flipped through the small packet to look for an inevitable clue. As much as Isaac was an asshole, he was a smart asshole. There was bound to be something useful in this thing.

"A medical pamphlet? About the human body? What the heck is this?" I slammed my fist into the table.

**Truth Bullet Updated: Isaac's Medical Pamphlet**

There was lots of information and many sections about various things that had to do with how the human body functioned. The font was very small and I had forgotten my glasses in my dorm room. Grumbling in annoyance, I stood up and stretched, preparing to walk back to my dorm.

**DING DONG BING BONG!**

**Attention students! The trial will be starting soon, so get your asses to the courtroom effective immediately! If you aren't there on time, I will make sure that you are punished! So hurry it up, losers!**

"Shit!" I muttered and started running for the courtroom.

On the way, I passed the cafeteria and slowed my fast paced running into a slow stop. Muttering to myself, I let out a sigh and then stepped cautiously into the cafeteria before going back stage to where Atsuko's body was. I couldn't say I liked the girl much, but she was quirky and fun. It was sad to see someone like her die, and she didn't deserve it. Even if I wasn't thrilled about her presence, I thought I might as well visit her one last time and pay my respects. However, as soon as I entered the room where Atsuko was, Monokuma popped up to surprised me.

**"MISS INOUE! Make your way down to the courtroom immediately! You wouldn't want an early punishment, now would you?"** Monokuma growled loudly as his red eye flashed dangerously.

"N-No... I wouldn't!" I backed up cautiously, but looked over his short stature to notice that something was definitely wrong, "W-Where is it...? Atsuko... Her body, it's gone!"

**"H-Huh? That's none of your business, you brat! Now get out of here. Geez, I'm such a good headmaster! I get rid of the bodies so it doesn't become a pig sty in here! And what do I get repaid with? Insolent brats who disobey me!"** Monokuma seemed to be rambling to himself, so I hurried to the courtroom as fast as I could.

Out of breath, I noticed that I was the last one to make it there, "I'm here! Sorry for the wait."

"Oh no, why don't you just take you darling time, princess?" Tio leaned over and smirked at me.

"H-Hey! Er, don't talk to her like that, okay?" Koh seemed surprised at his own outburst.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever man. Let's just get this started already." Tio grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Where is Monokuma, actually? Shouldn't he be here or something? The gate to the courtroom is locked, and I'm pretty sure he needs to be here to open it." Ted yanked harshly on the door, but it did not budge an inch.

"Ah, perhaps I could be of assistance?" Hokuto yanked on the door as well.

"This is getting irritating... Where is that bear? After he made such a fuss about being late, you would think he would be here on time." Petra growled irritably.

"Since this trial has to happen anyways, I'd hope it'd be over soon..." Hokuto frowned and let go of the door handle as Ted still harshly pulled on it.

"Hmph! I can't believe that weirdo... like... weird girl is getting more attention than me! Just because she died or something? You know, I died too!" Kiyomi stomped angrily.

"You didn't actually die, Kiyomi." Petra looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a frown.

"Frowning gives you wrinkles, you know. And it's a shame too. You're actually kind of pretty. Not as pretty as me, of course! But hey, you've got something." Kiyomi cackled to herself.

"Good, good... Keep up this lighthearted conversation. Haha, cause it's not like that Atsuko is like, really dead, ya know what I mean? Like I bet she's playing a prank on us like Kiyomi was! Yeah, there's no way any of us could actually kill anyone, I'm sure of it! Haha, people can only die of old age or something anyways! Yeah... There's nothing wrong and this stupid trial will be over in no time..." Ryota was in the corner by himself and shaking vigorously as he talked to himself.

"Ryota? Are you alright?" Minato actually looked concerned, but he darted his eyes away nervously.

"Yeah! Just peachy, Hana!" Ryota blankly stared at Minato and patted him on the head.

"It's Minato, Ryota..." Minato whispered.

"That loser isn't leaving this place alive, what and idiot! He's lucky that he has others to cover his ass for him in the trial. I just want to get this damn trial over with. Can't that stupid fucking bear just appear already? Geez!" Mazuri announced loudly.

**CRASH!**

**"Ask and he shall appear! Upupupu, are we ready for this trial to start?"** Monokuma suddenly appeared in a tuxedo and landed on top of Ted, who had finally gotten the door to open, but had fallen down due to the excessive force.

"What the hell? It opens now?" Ted grumbled to himself.

**"Are you an idiot, Mister Sakamoto? It's a push door!" **Monokuma snickered.

"I tried that! There's no way it's just a push door, you must have been stalling for time!" Ted rubbed his head and slowly got up.

**"Stalling for time?! Upupu! What are you implying?"** Monokuma started to sweat, oddly enough.

"Yes, what were you doing? You do realize that you are late, I hope. After you make it quite clear that you need us all here on time, it is unacceptable that you are the last to arrive!" Petra reprimanded Monokuma with a stern gaze.

**"Yikes lady, stop being so serious! This is a lovely comedy that you're ruining... plus the slight horror genre of the killing, but that's not what's important!"** Monokuma put his paws up in defense.

"Actually, this seems like more of a horror genre! Since I'm the Ultimate Reality TV Star, do you think we could change the scene to more that speed?" Kiyomi clapped as if she could wave some sort of butler over.

"**Ack, ack! You are completely derailing the point of this chapter! So what if I'm late? It's the first trial and I had to make sure that the courtroom was in tip top condition for you guys! Trial time is starting you idiots! Now get in there and stop questioning me!"** Monokuma stomped his feet angrily.

Slowly, we all made our way into the courtroom and didn't look at one another. We knew that one of us did the killing, and that was a fact that we could not ignore. Unfortunately, I had no idea who it was and I would have to figure out during the trial. It was unfortunate that I could not see Atsuko one last time before she was gone forever, but now she was really gone for good.

It was time for the trial to begin, so we could avenge Atsuko Koyanagi's death.

* * *

**Update: My computer glitched out and some of the lines merged when I switched this file over into a story document instead of a doc document. I swear I'm not COMPLETELY incompetent without a beta reader.**

**Kill me lmao I'm so stupid and I totally forgot to save my files onto an actual source rather than just the document manager here on ****and I literally lost everything which isn't TOO bad... yet. I had some good stuff saved and I'm super bummed. I'm glad that 1K of this wasn't deleted as I had five days left, and I barely made it. As for my absence, I am terribly sorry. I'm not giving up, but school is killing me. Not necessarily the curriculum, but I've decided to be a triathlete for some stupid reason? I obviously hate myself or something because this is the worst idea I've ever had I'm pretty sure, and my school is SERIOUS about sports. I meant SERIOUS. Not only that, but I do volleyball year round since it's like the only thing I find joy in nowadays so woo. I'll try to update more but I don't know how much I can juggle. Thank you so much for being patient with me ^^ lowkey I tried getting this out as fast as possible for you guys and I'm sorry if it seems half dead because I am half dead. My beta reader is busy so I will be without one rip** **Question: I actually think I might be more motivated before the trials to do something that's requested that is like off the main story, but interesting that you guys request? Like if you want me to write about a ship or a cool bonus scene, I would love to do that as those sorts of things really get my inspiration going. So how about it? **

**Also, who do you think did it?**

**Please review! Haha, oh god do any of you even follow this anymore tbh? I messaged some people who have their OCs in this story and it seems like they haven't read it at all! But it's nice to see that I have loyal people ^^** **OtakuEloise: I guess so, haha! But now that I think of it, there's someone else who seemed a lot more obvious for first victim...** **HeroineOfDarkness: Oh, we'll see about that! Thanks for your input! I really like to see what people think.**

**White Weasel: Your theory is nice to hear! You'll figure out the significance of the needles soon, I'm sure. Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.** **DoctorTDespair: Oh, nice theories! I wonder if you have more. Oooh, I wonder if your theory got switched up as well!**

**ApexUtopia: That's great to hear! Haha, I'm so late now though... but I mean my finals for high school finished recently so that's why I could update. Whoa... Okay I'm not going to lie but I did put something like that into this chapter, as you notice it's actually near the top of the chapter... and I had written that before I had even posted last chapter... I guess I totally saw Yukira as doing something like that! Haha, I love Xiang and Yukira, they are the cinnamon duo! ** **HeadphoneJack: That's great! Oh dear, that does seem like something that might happen... And really? So I wonder if you relate to Hana... maybe? I actually find that funny, because I don't feel like I'm too much like Hana either, but I am similar to her in some aspects. That's quite neat, actually.** **LongTimeReader19: thank you so much! That really does mean a lot, as I'm trying to improve as much as I can ^^** **I still love to hear all the theories, because I think they're quite cool! But this one is a bit tricky, I will admit. It's a real bang to start off the killing game. Oh really? That's a relief to hear! I'm glad that I'm not botching up his character, and he's lovely to write about!**


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